A Wound Like A Knife to the Heart
by Freddo
Summary: It is the year 2202, and the AU tale of the Rikasha Incident continues with part 9 as Captain Wildstar and his associates find themselves captured by the evil Lord Ekogaru. Can they escape? COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE**

**STAR BLAZERS****---****A WOUND (LIKE A KNIFE TO THE HEART)**

* * *

**Being the ninth part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz**

**ACT ONE: FROM THE PIT, I CRY UNTO THEE…**

* * *

**I. BAD NEWS ON EARTH**

**Tokyo**** Megalopolis**

**Earth Defense Headquarters**

**Sunday, April 11, 2202 **

**0730 Hours: Spacetime**

* * *

It was early in the morning. Jordy Venture sat with his parents, in their Sunday best, in a small briefing lounge in Earth Defense Headquarters.

"Please don't let Mark be lost, Mom," said Jordy. He looked at his mother, who was chewing her nails. "Please don't let the Star Force be lost. Why didn't they show up yesterday?"

"That's what we're here to find out," said David Venture, who was Mark and Jordy's father, in a very soothing voice.

Jordy hugged his father as the family sat on a round couch. Not far away, Karl Forrester was trying in vain to comfort his sobbing, pregnant wife.

"There, there…Nova will be all right," said Karl. "She's come through worse than this."

"Don't they say that sometimes ships warp and never come out of the Fourth Dimension?" sobbed Teri. "Our baby could be dead now, and she'd never meet the brother or sister I'm carrying!"

"Don't say that. It just must have been a mistake…."

"Or maybe they were caught in battle?" said Mrs. Venture. "We don't really know what's going on out past Mars with these Rikashan attacks, Mrs. Forrester."

Teri just nodded dully.

Nearby, Eager's parents sat with Lisa, Eager's girlfriend. "I was hoping he'd tell me that we were going to be engaged," said Lisa. She was biting a hanky and trying to hold back tears. "But now, I don't know if I'll ever see Chris again…why'd they have to assign him to that ship?"

"Ladies and gentlemen," said a staff officer as he came in. "Please rise for the Commander of the Earth Defense Forces."

Singleton came in, looking about a thousand years old. He looked at the thirty or so stricken Star Force family members and said, "Thank you for keeping vigil here all night. I know it must have been difficult. Unfortunately, we still don't have any news on the _Argo's_ whereabouts…"

"None?" said David Venture, who had more or less become the _de facto_ leader of the little survivors' group.

Singleton shook his head. "I wish there was more than I could tell you. Unfortunately, we don't know whether the Star Force is alive or not at this point. We have nothing to go on. No communications leads. No radar intercepts. Nothing, except for a flash of data that indicates that the _Argo's_ main engine fired very strongly right before she went into warp. We have our best scientists working on that bit of intelligence. In the meantime, the _Argo_ has been declared missing. Not lost, I stress…but missing. I wish I knew more myself. We were counting on Captain Wildstar's intelligence. I wish that I was telling you that they were back, and that you could go to church this morning with your loved ones…but…well…you can't. So, please go for me. I can't leave here. Please go to your house of worship, and pray for them. And please pray for Earth."

The Commander paused. "Thank you for understanding. I'll be in touch as soon as we have news, one way or the other…"

* * *

**II. BARON CHA'RIF'S ARRIVAL**

**Planet Carufax**

**The Vicinity of Castle Pa'Cranda**

**April 11, 2202 **

**0730 Hours: Local Time**

* * *

Of course, the _Argo_ was still marooned over Planet Carufax.

Carufax was a temperate planet conquered some time ago by the Rikashan Star Empire; it was one of many such worlds that Rikasha had occupied.

The town of Pa'Cranda, her capital, had once been a thriving small city. The Carufaxi were a race of humanoid bipeds who resembled inhabitants of the Indian Subcontinent on Earth. They had developed their own civilization up to roughly a late 19th-century level of technology before the Rikashans had come. The burgeoning enlightened monarchy of the Carufaxi had been turned back into a feudal dictatorship by the Rikashans. The Rikashans were the masters, while most of the Carufaxi were serfs.

Long ago, the builders of Pa'Cranda had built a castle and keep to accommodate the local lord who ruled the area. When the lord's family had become the planetary royal house through conquest, the old local castle grew and became the seat of government. It had been Pa'Cranda's capital district for some time, and it had become the seat of the Rikashan governor when the Empire had enslaved the planet.

The gloomy, multi-turreted castle was now Ekogaru's temporary palace; from there, he was exerting his dark authority, the authority of a "god", over all of the Rikashans and their slaves.

There were many who did not care for this turn of events.

Some of the dissenters were even Rikashan themselves.

"_This_ is what Ekogaru's New Age represents, Ter'garv?" asked Anton Cha'rif as he and his aide-de-camp rode through the narrow, dirty streets of the town of Pa'Cranda in an open Technomugar car. "By the Gods, this looks worse than Rikasha!"

Ter'garv nodded. He looked up at the decoration along a lane they were going down, and even he was sickened.

"What are you looking at?"

"One of his new developments, Baron. It wasn't like this the last time we were here. For Mercy's sake, look!"

The lane was lined with crosses. And on the crosses were nailed stripped men, women, and…children.

Some, mercifully, were dead; their bodies in various states of decay due to the elements, insects, or otherwise. "Look at this," said Ter'garv with tears in his eyes. "Who would order this? Driver, slow down. Is that a boy on that cross?"

"It is," said the Technomugar driver.

"Let me read the sign," said Cha'rif. "**_This is Pan'sha, Criminal, executed for stealing bread for his family._**"

"Stop!" snapped Cha'rif.

"Baron, what are you doing?" asked Ter'garv as the car stopped and Cha'rif walked up to the cross where the boy moaned and cried with nails in his wrists and ankles.

Cha'rif looked up at the boy. Hoping the boy could speak Rikashan, he said, "Does it hurt?"

"Yes," sobbed the boy. "The flies are at me. I can barely breathe. All this to help my mother? I…"

"Do you wish a brave, quick release from your pain?" Cha'rif unsheathed his scimitar. "Unfortunately, there is only one thing I can do."

"Yes," sobbed the boy. "Please free me from this pain, I'm ready to…"

"Silence," said Cha'rif. "I'll make it quick…"

_The child is so cute…or he was,_ thought Cha'rif. _He reminds me of my own son. _With tears running from his eyes, Baron Cha'rif ran the boy through with a strong thrust to the heart.

A moment later, the boy's corpse hung limply on the cross. The boy's head fell to his chest with an expression on the face approaching relief.

"Rest well, Pan'sha," murmured Cha'rif. Then, he held his scimitar up towards the castle on the hill and screamed, "Lord Ekogaru! Hear my cries! _Give_ these conquered men, women and children _bread!_ Don't torture them for stealing it! We fed them! This was a prosperous world! If you are so great and good, shouldn't you have improved things, Lord?"

The Baron then sheathed his scimitar. The Technomugar driver gave him a positively black look as he climbed back into the car.

"His Lordship won't like that, Cha'rif," he said. "He doesn't like people who think for themselves too much."

"This is Rikashan territory," said Cha'rif. "I can do what I please here. I am a warrior of a noble house. I outrank the Governor!"

"Can you?" mocked the driver. "You're not even one of us. Why haven't you partaken of eternal life yet and been converted into one of _us_?"

"Because I mean to make that decision in my own time. No one forces me to have my body changed!"

"I say again, Baron," said the driver. "Ekogaru does not fancy those who think too much. Consider my words well. Else He may have to nail _you_ up there."

"He would not do that to one of his worshippers!" raged Cha'rif.

"You don't know. Blasphemy can take many forms, and sedition is one of them, Baron." sneered the driver with a truly diseased smile. "Shall we go on with our tour of this lovely city? You'll like what we've been doing to force these scum to work harder. Unlike your people, we have no compassion at all. Compassion is a disease when you are the strong, is it not?"

Before Cha'rif could answer, the driver drove on. As he drove, he was laughing. "Organic scum…all of you," he muttered. "That means you, too, Cha'rif."

"Thank you for letting me know how I stand here," hissed the Baron. "Thank you _very_ much!"

* * *

Beneath the castle that Ekogaru had appropriated for his own use, there was a deep, dark dungeon and torture chambers.

Water dripped steadily down there while a torch guttered and then flared.

A figure awoke to fresh suffering. It was Captain Derek Wildstar, who was in a dull agony. He felt as if he was hanging suspended from a wall.

He was.

_Manacles,_ he thought as he looked up at his bare, bleeding wrists, which were clamped to the wall. His ankles were manacled, as well. _My face feels like I've been beaten pretty damn good. Nothing on me but a rope and a single rag dangling over my crotch. Guess it's supposed to be a loincloth. Doesn't do much good with my bare behind against the wall. Oh, God, where are the others? Where's Nova? Is she alive? God, don't let her be dead!_

He looked to his right. Sharing the other set of manacles with him was a skeleton. The skeleton was covered with cobwebs. Derek breathed a sigh of relief when he looked at the skeleton's bony pelvis and saw that it was male. For a moment, he thought that his nightmares had come true, and that he was sharing the wall with his wife's skeleton.

He looked to his left.

Nova was hanging beside him intact in a swoon…if one could call a somewhat swollen face and a body covered with red welts intact, that is. She was also manacled to the wall at the wrists and ankles. She wore only a ragged breechcloth like his and a bit of fur around her breasts that he guessed was supposed to be a top. Also; they had left her with two pieces of jewelry; her crucifix on its chain, and her wedding band.

Derek looked down at himself, and he looked at Nova. As the torchlight flared for a moment, he could see that both of their bodies were covered with red welts as well as assorted bruises and cuts.

"Nova," muttered Derek. "Nova. Can you hear me?"

Nova seemed to take a deeper breath and she slowly raised her head. "Can't open my eyes," she muttered. "Crusted shut."

"Nova, this is Derek," he said as tears ran down his cheeks. "What did they do to you, _tenshi_? God, what did they do to you?"

"They whipped me. Threw things at me. Called me obscene names I don't want to repeat. Waved a hot iron at me and taunted me with it; didn't use it. Don't think I've been raped. Yet," she sobbed. "I'm so cold. Am I naked? Sorry I have to ask; I'm going numb with cold. It's so damp down here! Do I have _anything_ on?"

"Yes, you do. You have some kind of top and loincloth on. But…they're…rags…"

Nova finally forced her eyes open and looked down at herself. She moved her thighs a bit and said, "Oh, God, I might as well _be_ naked! That rag doesn't cover very much of me down there…it…doesn't really cover me at all." She looked at Derek. "Looks like they whipped you, too," she sobbed. "Sorry. Can't stand seeing you like that…and I hurt all over!"

"Yeah."

"Where's the others?" sobbed Nova.

"I'm here," muttered Aliscea.

Derek looked over. Aliscea hung next to Nova, clad in only a torn blue, black and red tunic and some kind of odd, heavy bracelet around one of her ankles above one of the rusty manacles that held her.

"My powers…they aren't working," she said. "They put a_ D'Ranjikhar_ on me."

"What's that?" asked Derek.

"Psychic damper. As long as I have that anklet on, I'm no good to anyone." Aliscea began to bang her heel against the stone wall for a bit. "Damned thing won't come off. I'm worthless! Useless! Paul?"

"I'm right by you," said Rosstowski from the darkness beyond Aliscea's head.

"What do you have on?" asked Aliscea. "I can't see you, my _shalin'ska_!"

"Nothing," moaned back Paul.

The dungeon door opened. In came two Technomugar guards with more torches. A third guard came in and began to clang on a loud gong.

"Wake up, scum!" he yelled. "I see that our little stun-shot has worn off for everyone. Now, we're gonna have some fun! Fun in the torture suite!"

Nova cringed, wondering what their idea of "fun" was. She found out after they put more torches at the end of the room. She could see Bryan Hartcliffe hanging there with only a ragged loincloth on; his face looked defenseless and tired without his usual "cool" shades, but Angie looked more pathetic, since she hung there in only the remains of her underwear. She was shivering in the damp dungeon.

Angie woke up screaming; the guards were opening her manacles. "Please stop that! I have no glasses! I can't see you very well!"

"Shut up, scum!" yelled one of the guards. "Stop whining and take your medicine like a good girl!"

Then they threw her onto the dirt floor. They dragged her out of the room by the wrists; she fought and screamed as she was dragged out.

In the meantime, the second guard stopped by Aliscea and slapped her in the face for no reason.

"You're the chief rebel, Aliscea," he hissed. "We'll break you slowly and exquisitely, on the rack, perhaps, and you'll be grateful to join our side. As for your little friend here, maybe we'll let her live, maybe not." He then reached up to Nova and began to caress her as she hung there struggling and shivering in only her ragged furs. Nova shut her eyes in disgrace and pain at this imposition, but still, the tears flowed afresh.

"Stop that!" yelled Derek.

"Who are you?" hissed the guard as he teased Nova's navel and then let her go.

"The Commanding officer of this crew and her husband," said Derek.

"Good, you stupid damned loudmouth!" cried the guard. Outside, they could hear Angie's screams as she was beaten with a whip. "We'll give your _wife_ a double portion with the whip when we come back later, you piece of rotting dung! If I really have time, maybe I'll even let her have some more fun later...fun you can watch. Like that, girlie? Are we not superior to your mate? Have you ever been with a real man like myself, you bitch?" asked the guard as he leered at Nova.

"You're no man to me! And If you're so superior, why don't you clean up your language?" snapped Nova.

"Because I am the master and you are the slave, you scum! Don't know why they gave orders for some of you to have rags on. The whole lot of you should be naked like the animals you are! Who dresses an inferior animal, anyhow?"

"God gave us souls!" snapped Nova. "I don't know what _you_ have!"

"You have a big mouth, woman," hissed the guard. "Wish I could knock out all of yer teeth now, just for starters!"

Then, they dragged Angie back in. She was now covered with welts. She fell into a heap on the floor, crying.

The guard slapped Nova across the face again and then clapped his hands. "I'm gonna steal your stinkin' necklace," he said. "I'll bet you'll hate that! Then I'll take the rest of your clothes off so we can all look!"

He reached for the crucifix.

The Technomugar guard immediately screamed when he touched the crucifix, falling back as if he was burned.

"What the hell did you _do_ to Mazgar, girl?" screamed another guard.

"I…I don't know," said Nova. "It did it itself….my cross…there's a holy object in it."

"What?" demanded the guard.

"A splinter of the True Cross. It's _sacred to us_," said Nova. Then, she smiled and said, "Maybe Someone Else is telling you you've gone too far?"

"It won't hurt me, I'll…"

The guard then grabbed at Nova's crucifix and jumped back with a smoking imprint of the Crucified One in his hand.

He snarled at Nova, shaking his hand, and gave up. "Enough of this crap! Let's go! Later on, we'll bring some nice big truncheons so we can all have fun beating this lot!"

Soon, the whole bunch left, leaving nothing behind to mark their passing except Angie's moans and tears.

"Nova, I'm sorry, I only made it worse for you," sobbed Derek.

"S' Okay…you just tried to help," said Nova with a weak smile while she tried to hold back tears. "Least you made him stop that. I'm so thirsty! Aliscea, why did my cross do that?"

"Spirit," said Aliscea. "And Ekogaru's servants hate holy things, or things that smack of Love."

"Love?" asked Derek.

"Self-sacrificing, unselfish Love hurts them," said Aliscea. "I foresee that, somehow, Love will destroy even…him. But, I can't foresee how."

"Good thought," muttered Derek. "Damnit, I'm thirsty, too."

"Yeah," said Paul. "Water's a problem."

Nova then got an idea. _I hope I don't get the plague or something from doing this, but…_

As nausea ran through her body, she turned her head and carefully licked some of the condensation off the wall. "Not much, but it helps a little…Oh God, I wish I was home now! I really do! I hate this war!"

"Me too," said Derek.

"Love," said Aliscea with a smile. "Nova, you are filled with it. Remember. They may be able to break your body, but they will never break your spirit. Please don't let that spirit die in despair."

"Thanks." Nova licked the wall again. "Derek, take some. It'll help you."

Derek did the same. He looked at his wife and sobbed, "What could be worse than this place?"

"Yes, this is hell," said Nova. "Naked in hell together, Aliscea? That prophecy you had? Looks like…it's coming true…"

"Ekogaru is horrible," said Aliscea. "But he can think of far worse than this. _Far_ worse."

"This is bad enough," sobbed Angie as she dug her fingers and toes into the muddy floor_. Anything, anything, to relieve the pain…_she thought.

* * *

In the meantime, Baron Cha'rif had been called into a meeting with General Vergar.

The Technomugar general looked around, and he shut the door to the chamber. Then, he turned on a device.

"This will give us privacy from His Mind Probes; about five minutes' worth. That should be all we need."

Cha'rif's eyebrows went up as Vergar said. "I understand you have your doubts about the Dark Lord?"

"How did you know? And how can I trust you?"

"You can trust me, as I have begun to doubt him, too. He has become increasingly vicious. Perhaps even insane. I have begun to think that he seriously believes he is a god. Believe me, he is not a god."

"So, you don't worship him?" said Cha'rif in shock. "I…I…thought he was more than mortal!"

"You are deluded. His divinity is naught but a legend. He is as accountable to the Almighty as you or I. I served him as a fellow scientist, leader, and general. He was those things. Now, I think he is mad. Perhaps even a devil."

"So what do you plan to do about this?"

"Give you these," said Vergar. He handed Cha'rif a small binder that contained two message capsules. "These contain the plans of the Technomugar Fortress and the entire Technomugar/Rikashan attack plan upon Earth. Bring Captain Derek Wildstar and his colleagues up here, clothe them decently, and then free them after giving those plans to the young Captain so he can take them home to his High Command. Then leave this planet before Ekogaru becomes aware of your treachery against him. Understand?"

"You would bring him down?"

Vergar nodded. "I am planning an assassination. If we can trick him, he can be killed along with that vile Yvona and the Fortress can return to the Blackeye Galaxy to begin building a real New Order, better than Ekogaru's madness. But, if not, I am ready to die with the Fortress to stop Ekogaru."

"Thank you, Vergar," said Cha'rif. "I don't know what to say."

"Send your own guards. Quickly," said Vergar. "The Technomugar plan to have all of those prisoners given over to Yvona for torture. Hurry."

Cha'rif nodded.

* * *

A short time later, the door to the dungeon opened. Six Rikashans came in.

"Are you all right?" asked the Rikashan sergeant in a serious tone of voice.

"Do we _look_ all right?" snapped Captain Wildstar. "Why are you here? To mock us?"

"No, to set you free from this place," said the sergeant as he began to undo Derek's manacles. "The Baron Cha'rif has given orders that you are to be transferred to his custody. I don't know anything more, but we must hurry."

Derek was a little shocked at the urgency in the Rikashan's voice; and he was more surprised at the fact that he was carefully helped down from the wall by the sergeant. "Drink this water and then help the Corporal free your wife."

Captain Wildstar was given a skin of water as Nova looked on in shock. Then, to his surprise, he looked on as one of the Rikashans got to work at trying to take Aliscea's heavy ankle bracelet off after he unmanacled her ankles.

The guard screamed as something like an electrical charge came out of the heavy anklet. "Sergeant, I can't get this off her!"

"Leave it for Cha'rif…maybe he can remove it and restore her powers."

"Derek, what's going to happen to us?" asked Nova in an uneasy voice as he and the Rikashan corporal worked at freeing her.

"I don't know," he whispered. "This bunch seems to be treating us better than the Technomugar…"

Derek looked on as one of the men threw a cloak over Angie, partially covering her near-nakedness. Another one handed him a short cloak for Nova, which he threw over her with a tenderness that was otherwise lacking in this hellish dungeon. The others were also clothed in ragged cloaks. They were dirty, but better than almost nothing or nothing.

"We must hurry," said the sergeant. "They'll be down here any minute."

"Who?" said Paul Rosstowski.

"Those you don't want to find you, or us," said the sergeant. He then whispered, "We are going against Ekogaru's orders by doing this, but Cha'rif wants you freed. The Technomugar have threatened him, too. Come on…"

At that, the group left the dungeon behind. They had some trouble walking, but, as Bryan Hartcliffe left, he thought, _Man, anything is better than being in here…._

* * *

**III. BARON CHA'RIF'S PLAN**

**Planet Carufax**

**Inside Castle Pa'Cranda**

**Sunday April 11, 2202 **

**0910 Hours: Local Time**

* * *

"Captain Wildstar. Are you all right?" asked Baron Anton Cha'rif about fifteen minutes later when the prisoners were ushered into his presence.

Derek nodded. "There certainly seems to have been some change in plans," he said.

"Hold it," said Cha'rif with an upraised hand. "Sergeant, the device. On. Then, leave us."

"Yessir," said the sergeant, who flicked on some device and left.

"That is a jammer. We can speak frankly for ten minutes before Ekogaru notices," said Cha'rif. "I freed you because the Technomugar have threatened me, as well. I have my doubts about this alliance between the Technomugar and my people. I have begun to think it is an unholy alliance. I realize that Ekogaru is no god, and he is not worthy of my worship, or my devotion. Hence, the _Ji'had_ he has ordered against your people is null and void as far as I am concerned. I want to help you help Aliscea to destroy him. I beg your apologies for the way I have acted in this war, and wish to make a permanent truce. When I become the leader of Rikasha, as I mean to, this truce shall be permanent."

"Are you serious?" said Wildstar.

"I am," said Cha'rif. "Behold. Your uniforms. Clothe yourselves decently while we talk."

"Promise you won't look at us?" said Nova as she picked up a bundle that looked like a white Headquarters uniform with pumps.

"I promise," he said. "They are not the same ones you wore here, but EDF uniforms we think should fit you. I had been working with treasonous elements of your forces to subvert Earth. I repent of that alliance now…the first of many things I must repent of. Take these."

Derek and Nova were handed their weapons, in shoulder holsters.

"They work," said Cha'rif as Derek drew his weapon, followed by Nova, who looked strange holding a weapon on Cha'rif when she was dressed only in two scraps of fur. "You may demonstrate on me if you wish."

"Really?" said Derek. "Good. Maybe I should check this to see if this damn thing works. Your head might make a nice target, Cha'rif!"

Derek released the safety on his weapon. Immediately, the guards' weapons went up, surrounding Derek and Nova in a circle of guns.

"_Hold your fire!"_ Cha'rif barked at his men as they began to lock and load their weapons. "This is to show you I mean this offer of truce. You may take me as a prisoner if you wish. However, I would not counsel it. I think that this subterfuge I have set up will work better. For one, it will ensure Aliscea's safety. Please let me at Aliscea. I need to get that bracelet off her so she can help us. Yes or no, Captain?"

Derek thought for a minute. Finally, he holstered his weapon as Angie gasped. "I don't know why," he said. "But I think I can trust you, Cha'rif. Nova, put down your weapon. Change and put that on under your jacket. I'll do the same."

Nova nodded. With a deep blush, she holstered her weapon, set it aside, and began to undress after splashing her face with water from a basin. _There, that takes off the worst of those bloodstains, _she thought. _But look at me! I need a good bath!_

"These are EDF blues," said Bryan. "I want me Black Tiger stuff back, man," he said to Cha'rif. "And me shades! And Angie's glasses!"

"That's all I could find you. The Technomugar destroyed the uniforms you had on. It was only by a stroke of luck that I saved your Captain's and the Lieutenant's weapons. Oh…there is one other thing…"

"Bryan, put them on," said Angie as she pulled on her panties. Then, she covered herself as Cha'rif handed her something.

"Your glasses, Mrs. Hartcliffe. I did recover those," the Baron said. "Now, Mister Hartcliffe, I suggest that you dress yourself."

"Oh, all right," he said. He shrugged, looking at Paul Rosstowski as he also dressed in EDF blues.

Beside them, Nova had her back turned; she was now nude as she dug hurriedly through the clothes she was given. She quickly, but gratefully put on a clean, fresh set of underwear. _I hope they're not looking at me, _she thought_. I normally don't change in front of anyone except Derek._ She felt relieved when she noticed that the others, especially Bryan Hartcliffe, were too busy pulling on their EDF blues to notice her.

In the meantime, Cha'rif shut his eyes and began to work at Aliscea's anklet. It burned him, and he gasped, but he ignored the pain. A moment later, he had it off her, and threw it against the wall like a loathsome living thing.

"Aliscea, do you feel better?" he asked.

"I do," she said while she grabbed up a fresh Pellian uniform. Unlike Nova, she did not blush as she stripped off her rags to gratefully clothe herself in a new set of underclothes, followed by a new tunic, skirt, and sandals. "It will take me some time, but I feel I can fight him now when I recover. I am grateful."

"Take these," said Cha'rif as he handed Derek a binder. Derek was dressing in a fresh set of EDF blues and a short blue peacoat.

"What is this?" asked Captain Wildstar as he pulled on his blue trousers. Beside him, Nova had pulled on her slip and was working at putting on a white service blouse and skirt. Then, she gratefully stepped into her pumps, relieved that she didn't have to go barefoot any longer on this clammy stone floor.

"The plans to that Fortress, as well as our war plans," said Cha'rif as Derek pulled on his shirt, boots, and shoulder holster with his Astro-Automatic. "Put them inside your peacoat, Captain. I will be "escorting" you off-planet to my ship as my so-called "prisoners". When we are away from this planet, along with the _Argo_, you will be transferred back to your ship so you can return to Earth with these plans."

Derek was handed a communicator as Nova pulled on her shoulder holster. She then put a white Headquarters jacket and red ascot over the whole thing, hiding the fact that she was actually armed. "Call your ship. Tell them that you will be returning; there is a truce, and that your ship should follow us."

Wildstar nodded. _I hope Venture will believe me_, he thought as he began to call the _Argo_.

* * *

On the _Argo_, in the meantime, Eager noticed a Rikashan fleet approaching as he sat at the Cosmo-Radar.

"They're approachin' at slow speed, but they're definitely surrounding us!"

"That's all I needed to know," said Venture from his post. He closed his eyes for a moment in deep concentration. Dash was now back at his post again.

A moment later, Venture raised his head.

"Dash, open the main guns. You and Nishina should target them with everything we've got."

"Right," said Dash.

"I'm getting a visual message from the enemy fleet," said Homer.

"Put it on the video panel."

The bearded visage of Ter'garv appeared a moment later. "Greetings, _Argo_. My name is General Ter'garv of Rikasha. I am Baron Cha'rif's second-in-command. There has been a change of plans. We are not attacking you."

"Well, where's Cha'rif?"

"You are?"

"Commander Mark Venture, First Officer of this ship. Do you know what's happened to Aliscea and our landing party? Are they your prisoners?"

"The Baron Cha'rif has now taken authority; yes. It is our plan to return them to you in due time. However, you must listen to what we say."

"We don't listen to enemy demands," snapped Venture. "Release them, or your can expect to have your flagship boarded and the rest of your fleet wiped out."

"Give me a moment. Your Captain wishes to speak to you."

Then, a moment later, Derek's image appeared on the screen. The bridge crew gasped.

"Where are you?" asked Venture.

"I'm on Carufax, and I'm all right; so are Aliscea, Nova, and the others," said Captain Wildstar as he let the camera in the small Rikashan communicator scan the group. "We're on our way back. I can't say anything more."

"What's going on?" demanded Venture.

"There's a truce. We're on the same side for the moment. It seems that there's some…"

Then, the transmission faded, and Eager yelled. "Large fleet approaching from the port side…firing at both us and the Rikashans! Switching to video…"

The _Argo_ shook from a hit as they noticed the Technomugar fleet approaching.

What happened next shocked them. Before Dash could issue an order to return fire, the Rikashans did so. It took a moment for Venture to register an amazing fact….namely, all of the guns on the Rikashan fleet surrounding them were trained _outwards. _

The Technomugar fired again, and the Rikashans returned the fire. Also, four smaller Rikashan ships maneuvered in very close to the _Argo._ It was clear what they were doing; they were acting as destroyer escorts.

"Well, we've got some help," said Venture.

"What do you think we should do?" asked Sandor. "This is very strange."

"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth; if they want to help us, that's their business. And, it looks like they might be sending Wildstar back after all."

"Perhaps. Maybe this battle is a quarrel between the two races over what to do with the Captain and Aliscea," said Sandor.

"Maybe," said Venture. "Dash, target the Technomugar Fleet, and then open fire!"

"Right away."

A moment later, the _Argo_ opened fire on the Technomugar fleet, followed by the _B'eoneraze_ and the other heavy Rikashan space battleships. Like it or not, the Star Force and Cha'rif's Rikashans were now in the same boat.

Green and blue bolts of energy shot back and forth. The _Argo's_ guns took out a Technomugar ship. A moment later, the _B'eoneraze_ also destroyed one Technomugar ship.

The _Argo_ took two hits, and then, unexpectedly, the Technomugar fleet turned about and began to retreat. A moment later, they warped out.

"What's going on?" muttered Venture. "Sandor?"

"This is weird…they shouldn't be retreating like that…something's up."

A moment later, Ter'garv came up on the screen. "This is strange," he said. "I was expecting a bigger battle than that."

"Me too," said Venture. He hesitated before speaking again. "What's going on? Is that a usual tactic of theirs?"

Ter'garv sat in silence for a moment. "Cha'rif has contacted me. He said that these are not their usual actions. Of course, with Ekogaru on that planet, anything could happen next."

"What does he want you to do?"

"Guard you and wait. When he has our friends off the planet, we may need to make a quick getaway." Ter'garv paused. "He told me before he left that he thinks the Dark Lord's Fortress is around here somewhere. Where…he does not know."

Hardy came onto the bridge. "What's goin' on?" he asked.

"Temporary truce," said Venture as Ter'garv's image faded off the screen.

"You know that Captain Peronada said mah girlfriend Mio was taken when they captured that survey ship. When you talk to them again…if you do…could you try to find out what happened to her?" Hardy thought of Mio Hoshiyama in their hands, and he felt sick to his stomach.

"I'll try," said Venture. "But rescuing Aliscea and the Captain is the first priority."

Hardy nodded. He understood, but that didn't have to mean that he liked it.

* * *

On Carufax, in the meantime, Cha'rif prepared to leave the castle with his rescued prisoners.

"Act like I'm still a slave-driver," whispered Cha'rif as he looked at his manacled "prisoners". In reality, all of them could remove their chains in a moment. "If I can get you out of this castle, that's the first…"

They began to leave the room, but they walked into the corridor…

…and into the arms of twenty-five waiting Technomugar troops.

"Surrounded," muttered Cha'rif.

"Damnit," muttered Derek. "Now, if we work together, we can fight our way out…"

"Let me help with this," said Aliscea. "I think I can…"

Then, her face dropped.

"Aliscea, my love. Leaving so soon?" whispered a twisted voice.

Aliscea's teeth gritted as she recognized the hunchbacked, hooded figure who slowly approached. He cast back his hood, and, right away, all of them recognized Shardovan Gralnacz.

"I'm afraid you can't leave yet," said Gralnacz. "We have an appointment. Baron Cha'rif, my guards will take you and your party down the south corridor. You will meet again. Captain Wildstar, you will follow me. The Lord Ekogaru desires to speak with you."

"And what if I don't wish to meet the Lord Ekogaru?" countered Derek. Gralnacz made a hand motion, and Aliscea began to cough and choke.

"Her powers are not at the full, yet," said Gralnacz. "You will follow us, or she dies."

"Leave me," coughed Aliscea. "Leave…"

Derek and Nova unholstered their weapons. Gralnacz smiled.

The weapons grew hot in their hands, and they had to drop them.

Gralnacz picked them up. "Follow me…Ekogaru is waiting."

* * *

**IV. THE BALLROOM**

**The Staircase Before Ekogaru's Grand Ballroom**

**Planet Carufax**

**Sunday, April 11, 2202**

**0950 Hours Spacetime**

* * *

Captain Derek Wildstar stretched his stiff muscles as he and Nova walked tiredly up a huge stone staircase.

Nova ran for a moment.

"Stop running!" roared one of the guards.

"I'm just trying to stretch my legs," she pleaded. She reached down to rub her bare knee for a second. "It feels like we've gone up two hundred steps."

"_Weak humans_," said the guard disdainfully. "Soon, such things will no longer afflict you, if you make the right decision, that is…"

Behind her was a huge, bizarre stained-glass window of many colors "This...castle...looks like it was designed by King Ludwig the Mad or something," said Derek.

"Like a maniac's idea of a cathedral," said Paul Rosstowski.

"Like the set of the first _Batman_ movie o' the late 20th century, man," said Bryan Hartcliffe. "Anyone ever say that Ekogaru has bad taste?"

"Silence that idiot," said Gralnacz.

A guard struck Bryan in the mouth as Angie screamed.

"Back, or you'll get it too," said the guard.

"Enough," said Gralnacz. "They are guests. And the Master awaits them. Walk on."

They did, going up more stairs in uncomfortable silence.

"I don't like this," muttered Derek. He stopped to put on his ascot under his peacoat, thus completing his uniform.

"Gralnacz said that...the Master awaited us," said Nova while she helped him straighten his scarf. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I know what you're thinking, and you are right," said Aliscea as she signaled a stop. A guard kicked her. "What? You're tired?"

"Leave her alone," snapped Paul.

"Make us," said the guard.

"Leave them for a time, but stand nearby down the corridor on this level," said Gralnacz. "I will await Him alone with these prisoners."

The guards left Gralnacz alone with Derek, Nova, Paul, Aliscea, Bryan, and Angie.

"Don't try anything funny," said Gralnacz. "He is now watching you. Got that?"

_Let's fight,_ sent Aliscea to Paul. _This isn't my father any more. It's a devil we're facing._

_No, wait_, thought Paul. _You're weak._

_I can hear you_, mocked Gralnacz with his powers while he glared at them with a smile.

_You rat,_ thought back Aliscea. She leaned on Paul and reached down to rub her bare ankle.

"Are you all right?" asked Rosstowski.

"Don't your ankles hurt, too?" said Aliscea miserably. "I'm cut."

"Ain't so bad, luv...you're alive," said Bryan Hartcliffe.

"Bryan, cut it out," said Angie. "She's hurt. Can't you see that? Her ankles are bleeding."

"So's my cheek," said Nova in a miserable voice as she dabbed at her cut cheek.

"Oh, sorry!" Bryan replied. "Sorry to all of ya!"

"I'll give you sorry," hissed Rosstowski.

"Guys, _stop _it," said Derek. "That Gralnacz is watching."

Aliscea felt a surge of nausea as she saw her father smiling at them.

"Derek, give me your scarf," said Nova. "At least it's silk."

Derek took off his ascot, which was actually a silk aviators' scarf, and let Nova tear a few pieces off it. She made Aliscea sit down on a wide landing and undid her sandals.

"Not much, but maybe this'll keep those laces from cutting into those wounds," said Nova. Why do you have to wear only sandals again? A good pair of boots would be a lot better right now…"

"It's a part of my office as Matrix-Bearer of Pellias," said Aliscea. "I have to either wear something black all the time and those sandals..."

"You idiot," said Gralnacz.

"SHUT UP!" cried Aliscea.

"I should slap you for that," hissed Gralnacz. Then, he got an idea. He smiled at Hartcliffe.

Bryan's face contorted; it looked as if he was struggling. Then, it went limp and a dangerous light shone in his eyes.

"Slap her for me," said Gralnacz.

At that, Derek's teeth bared in a snarl as Bryan Hartcliffe slapped Nova across the face. "You're touched in the 'ead," smiled Bryan mockingly. "Both of you."

Wildstar tried to go at Hartcliffe for hitting his angel, but Gralnacz just held him back.

Nova curled back her lip and slapped Bryan right back across the face. At that slap, even Derek's eyebrows went up.

"_Are you that weak-minded that you're letting him use you like that?_ _Don't you have a damned ounce of respect for anything, Bryan Hartcliffe?_" yelled Nova in a voice as brittle as broken glass. "It's her religion! Stop mocking the person who gave everything up except the clothes on her back to save us! What next, Bryan? If Jesus Christ Himself showed up here, would you be asking Him _''Ay, man, y' know you've got some big scars on yer wrists, mate?'_ Or would you just say that your rock band is more popular than He is?"

"I'm more popular than your Jesus," mocked Gralnacz.

"You stay out of this!" snapped Nova.

"Make me."

Nova then grabbed Bryan by the shoulders and slapped him again, then shook him. Something seemed to clear in his eyes.

"Sorry," said Bryan while rubbing the red mark on his face. "Damnit. For a little chick, you hit 'ard!"

Captain Wildstar came over and just glared at Bryan while he helped Nova and Paul bandage Aliscea's ankles. "Are you all right?" asked Paul as he wiped away his wife's tears.

"Yeah, but if he opens his mouth again, he shall verily _regret_ it!" hissed Aliscea. "I'll burn him where he stands for his blasphemy!"

"Please, Aliscea," said Derek. "We need to work together...if..."

"Yes, this is so much fun, family quarrels," said Gralnacz. "Nova, now you do something. Let's see if I can make you belt your husband!"

"No, please, don't," said Nova.

Before Aliscea could react, Gralnacz thrust a hand towards Nova.

Acting against her will, like an automaton, she walked towards Derek.

Her right hand went up of its own accord. She tried to pull it down with her left hand, but it didn't work. The look of pain on her face was nauseating.

As Gralnacz laughed, Nova's right hand shot out, and she slapped her husband across the face.

"Oh, my God…I'm so sorry," she said in a stricken voice. "Derek, I hurt you…!"

"How?" asked a hurt Derek.

"It was like being possessed," said Nova. "It's horrible! Did I hurt you, darling?"

"Did I hurt you, _darling_?" mocked Gralnacz as he laughed. "I don't think you did it hard enough, Nova. You should've got him below the belt. Let's try that, shall we? Shall we see if I can make you punch your husband into sterility?"

"_Silence_!" barked Aliscea as she raised her hand.

Unexpectedly, Gralnacz stood frozen in place for a moment. Only his eyes moved; they glittered with hate.

"You don't know who's coming," he muttered. "Aliscea, you will regret this…"

"I do _not_ suspect. I _know_ who awaits us," she said. "In case you fools know not, we are about to meet the Lord Ekogaru himself."

"How d' you know?" snorted Bryan.

"I _sense _it!" screamed Aliscea.

"Holy...crud..." muttered Bryan.

"Isn't this amusing?" said Gralnacz.

"No!" hissed Derek as he sat down on the step. "Stop using him!"

"I am not using him," said Gralnacz. "He is_ letting _me use him. You see, he has a petty, sick mind. He would make a wonderful servant for me."

"_You_ have a petty, sick mind, Gralnacz." said Derek. "Stop using my crew men and crew women like toys!"

"Stop it, toy," said Gralnacz.

"Oh wow," said Bryan with a leer. "I feel as if I 'ad twenty vodkas! You should try it, sir. Kinda interesting, bein' in their gestalt!"

"You don't mean that," hissed Derek.

":And what's to say I don't?" said Bryan as Angie looked very stricken. "These guys have some good points! Even Gralnacz!"

"You don't mean that," said Aliscea.

"I might," said Bryan with a smile. At that, Aliscea raised her hand and Hartcliffe fell on his behind as if pushed by an invisible force.

He looked to Captain Wildstar for support, but Derek snarled at him and turned away.

"Sir..."

"You _deserved_ it, you no-class son-of-a-bitch," said Wildstar in a cold voice.

"Wot's this? Class envy?"

"My distant ancestors were _samurai_!" snapped Derek. "What were yours? Now leave us alone if you won't show her any honor! Don't you know that she and her father had a terrible parting of the ways?"

Bryan Hartcliffe backed away, callously ignoring Paul trying to comfort the Pellian while Derek laid a hand on Nova's shoulder as tears of pain and guilt for striking Derek ran down her face. She felt like sobbing, but kept her mouth sternly shut. She wasn't about to let Gralnacz or Hartcliffe have the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"Angie," said Bryan. "Hey...can y' give me a hug?"

"Go to hell," she said fiercely as she pushed him away. Bryan looked at her eyes through her glasses and saw that they were also tearing up.

"Women," he muttered. "You, Nova, and Aliscea are runnin' this show, Aliscea, luv!" said Bryan in a louder voice. "Wildstar might as well take off 'is peacoat and give it to ya! Samurai! Hah! _Domo arigato_, Mister ROBOTO!"

"Lady Aliscea, Nova, Paul, _please _excuse me," said Derek in a very controlled, stern voice. Both Nova and Rosstowski looked at each other in apprehension as Captain Wildstar got up. However, as Aliscea noted, neither of them dared to stop the angry blue-clad storm cloud that began to descend the staircase.

Derek walked down the stairs and took Bryan Hartcliffe by the shoulder. "Come down here a minute, I think I need to tell you something, Ensign. The next landing. Down there."

"Aye, sir?"

When they reached the landing, Derek took his hand off his shoulder, gritted his teeth, and let fly into Hartcliffe's nose with a sudden hard right. Bryan fell down against the wall with a stunned, rage-filled look on his face. The blood flowed from his nose a minute later.

"Maybe Nova didn't hit you hard enough, Hartcliffe," snapped Derek. "_Cut the crap!_ Now, if you still want to fight about it, this time, when you throw the next punch, I'll have you up before a full general court-martial board when we hit Earth! Didn't losing in that special court-martial teach you anything?"

"Why?"

"A second charge of assault upon your commanding officer, what do you think? I gave you _one_ man-to-man shot in the boxing ring that night and you lost. I don't think a rematch is a good idea. Got it?"

"Yessir," said Hartcliffe as Derek turned away.

Nearby, Gralnacz smirked. "How rude," he said. "Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. Bad Captain!"

Derek nodded with a slight blow towards both Nova and Aliscea. Paul didn't understand what he was saying when he muttered, in Japanese "_gomen nasai_." (Please pardon my rudeness.)

Nova was about to say something, but, to her surprise, Aliscea nodded back and murmured "_dozo_." (No need to mention it) Nova herself then murmured "_dozo_" as she and Derek helped Paul to finish binding Aliscea's wounds. They then stood ready with her shoes as Paul tenderly kissed her bare feet on the insteps and began to tie her shoes on at a spot below the wounds.

Bryan, ignored by everyone, had to tend to his broken nose himself.

* * *

Paul and Nova helped Aliscea to her feet as the harpsichord music they had heard earlier on the way towards the planet began to sound again.

"_Passacaglia and Fugue in C_," muttered Nova. "Again."

"Isn't that what we heard coming in?" asked Derek.

"It is," said Aliscea. "Now, I must stand tall," she said, pushing away her helpers and standing up to her full height. To his surprise, Paul saw a golden light forming around her as the huge wooden doors at the top of the stairs opened.

A Darkness streamed out from the doors. Captain Wildstar felt a cold breeze. Nova cuddled against him and shivered as the breeze blew Aliscea's hair back.

Out from the darkness strode an eight-foot tall Being in an ornate black cloak that streamed back and a blue and white uniform with high black boots. His face was slightly wrinkled, but he smiled broadly and silently over the relentless fugue in the background. His salt-and-pepper hair blew back as if some demonic wind was coming straight from him.

His eyes were dark and sincere, but seemed to burn with a dim greenish light that was guessed at rather than honestly seen.

He stopped before them on the landing, and bowed slightly towards Lady Aliscea. "Lady Aliscea of Pellias, I greet you at last," he said in a deep but very quiet voice. "I am glad that you have come to treat with me like a reasonable and honourable soul. We can have a fine discourse, you and I. For the benefit of your friends, honourable folk all, permit me to introduce myself. I am Ekogaru the Great, Lord of the New Creation, and Master of your destinies. How good it is of you to come visit me."

Derek saluted stiffly, and waited for Ekogaru to return the salute. He didn't. "You're quite the humble, unassuming sort, aren't you, your Lordship?" he said with a smile.

"My, do I detect sarcasm from you, Captain Derek Wildstar, scion of the ancient Kodai clan of _Dai Nihon_?" said Ekogaru. "I barely think I've done anything to merit such rudeness. And your people are supposed to be so courteous."

"We are...to those we _respect_," said Derek.

"My, he has a mouth, Nova," smiled Ekogaru. "You ought to wash it out with soap."

"Lord Ekogaru," said Aliscea. "They have no respect for practitioners of mass genocide in the name of progress. And neither do I."

"Aliscea. I think you misrepresent me," said Ekogaru. "Nova. I have witnessed you weeding your garden at home. Are you practicing genocide when you kill weeds?"

"Weeds and human beings are very different," said Nova in a calm voice. "She tells me you've killed trillions."

"My, you are deluded. Like him," smiled Ekogaru as he gestured towards Derek. "And you, Paul Rosstowski. Did you ever think a guy from South Philly like you would treat with Royalty? You must be so honoured!"

"I'm married to Royalty," said Paul as he hugged Aliscea. "And you don't need to be condescending towards me. I've learned enough to stand tall against someone like you."

"Really? Oh...I am eight of your feet tall. You and Derek are but six. I think you come up a little short, if you'll pardon the pun. And our beautiful ladies? Oh, so _petite_!"

Ekogaru heard footsteps coming. He smiled and said. "My helpers. I introduce to you the Lady Marda, the Lady Yvona Josiah, and Lord High Protector Shardovan Gralnacz, whom you have already met. I think Lady Aliscea and our dear Nova would love having a little family _reunion_ at this point."

Marda was in a flowing black robe and sandals, with green-glowing eyes. Yvona wore her husband's EDF peacoat with a bright red scarf. Finally, Gralnacz rounded out the sick trio.

Face-to-face for the first time in quite a long time, Nova and Yvona glared daggers at each other. "We're so _charmed_," said Nova sarcastically. "You look good, my niece," said Yvona as she came up to Nova with an evil smile on her young-looking cyborg face. The light from behind glittered against Yvona's dark brown hair and seductively lit up her young, heart-shaped face. "What did you do to your hair, Nova, darling? It looks _beautiful_."

"Get _away_ from me," said Nova in a husky voice from deep in her chest. "I can see the blood of every citizen of Chicago on your hands, you sickness."

"Just a million," said Yvona with a smile. "I'm just getting _started_. I have other fun projects underway now in my labs and torture chambers. Including a nice white four-poster electric torture bed I made just for you, Nova dearest."

"You..." gasped Nova with her mouth open."You're _inhuman!_"

Yvona giggled in a tone of voice and mannerism that aped Nova's own cute giggle when amused. Then, she extended a hand towards Nova, but Mrs. Wildstar backed away to her husband's chest in utter revulsion and righteous hate.

"Come, daughter," said Gralnacz as he extended a thin hand towards his daughter. "A feast is prepared for you."

"Father, do I have permission to _starve_?" said Aliscea in a bitter voice as tears ran from her eyes. "Do you know how many of my friends and relatives you and he killed?"

"Enough unpleasantness," said Ekogaru. "Come, all of you. We shall talk inside. I think you will be pleasantly _surprised_."

With apprehension flowing through him, Derek Wildstar took his wife's hand, and they walked together towards the banquet hall.

Aliscea walked near Paul; she looked lost in thought.

Nova wondered what was going to happen.

_Is this going to be it?_ Nova thought. _Will Aliscea finally take him on here? And if so, will we get off this planet alive?_

Unfortunately, Nova Wildstar couldn't see the future. So, she walked on beside her husband like a robot…a robot on its way to the death-house.

* * *

**_To Be Continued With Act Two: "The Mount of Temptation" _**

* * *

**_THERE ARE NOW 30 DAYS TO THE ARRIVAL OF EKOGARU IN EARTH'S SOLAR SYSTEM_**


	2. Chapter 2

**ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE**

**STAR BLAZERS****---****A WOUND (LIKE A KNIFE TO THE HEART)**

* * *

**Being the ninth part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz**

**ACT TWO: THE MOUNT OF TEMPTATION**

_**GoldAngel, and et al….** thanks again for your support. My work situation has turned rather odd (need to send you an e-mail on that soon, GoldAngel) and it looks like one door is closing while another will be opening. In the meantime, due to popular demand, I am trying to get as much of this up as possible, since everyone seems hooked on it…especially since we are getting up to the parts where the villains will finally have to pay for their arrogance…but…read on and enjoy! (PS: I don't have a high opinion of yaoi stories, especially when we know the canon characters involved do NOT go that way!) -- **FREDDO**_

* * *

**I. A STRANGE QUIET**

**Space Battleship _Argo_**

**First**** Bridge**

**In Orbit over Planet Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1020 Hours: Local Time**

* * *

"The fleet's still around us?" asked Dash as he walked up to the Cosmo-Radar. 

Becky Voorhees nodded. She was manning the radar in Nova's absence. "Is your leg all right?"

"This bionic leg is taking some getting used to. It feels like I'm walking around on a piece of wood."

"It feels like that the first few days," said Sandor sympathetically. "You'll feel better once the nerve endings adjust, Dash."

"Thanks"

He hobbled back over to his post. Eager was now at the helm, in his role as Assistant Pilot. "What's Venture doing back there again in the Captain's chair?"

"I advised him to do it," said Sandor. "Reluctantly, of course. Venture needs access to the Captain's status boards."

Mark sat in silence, feeling as if the world had caved down on top of him. _What a spot we're in,_ he thought. _Here I am in Captain Avatar's chair, the chair that neither Derek or I feel we're particularly worthy to sit in. Neither of us quite feel we're filling the old Captain's shoes. Derek and Nova and the others are still down there on that planet; and we don't know when they'll be back….or if they'll be back. And Holly's still in great pain. Holly. I wish we could get you home. I wish that Aliscea could save you and make you walk again, but…._

Todd Voorhees spoke up a moment later from his post at the battle radar near Sandor. "Executive Officer, we have three objects approaching the ship. Range, twelve megameters, speed, sixty space knots. They're coming in very fast."

"All hands to combat stations," said Venture.

The klaxons went off. "Switching to visual," said Becky.

The three approaching objects were Technomugar fighter craft of some type. The Rikashan fleet began firing at them a moment later, joined by a barrage from the _Argo's_ pulse laser battery as they blasted past the ship at high speed, firing a shot or two for show before they roared away. They were heading up over the plane of the ecliptic beyond the range of the Rikashans' own pulse laser batteries on their battleships and cruisers.

"What was the purpose of _that_?" said Nishina. "They only fired two shots, and they missed!"

"Those were recon planes," said Sandor as he stared at his instruments. "We were just scanned ten times over at high speed as they made that pass. Venture, that could be the precursor to a greater attack."

"I'm getting a signal from the Rikashans," said Homer.

Ter'garv came on the screen a moment later. "Would you mind if we launch our fighter screen to keep away snoops like that? I can't stand those damned snoop missions."

"Fine," said Venture, "But would you mind if we launch a squadron of our Black Tigers to go on patrol?"

"We'd better exchange IFF, or "Identification Friend or Foe" frequencies so that our planes don't shoot each other down by mistake," said Ter'garv.

"Okay, we can do that for now," said Venture. "Dash, prepare to upload the Delta-255 code up to the Rikashans. We'll be awaiting your download."

"I pray that Cha'rif is all right," said Ter'garv. "I haven't heard anything from him lately. Have you heard from your Captain Wildstar?"

"No. And I hope he's all right myself…"

"Well," said Ter'garv. "We can both agree upon that sentiment, I think. Speaking frankly, were it not for this Ji'had of Ekogaru's…we would make fine allies. We think alike in some ways."

"Yes. Interesting," said Venture. Then, Mark thought…_Interesting considering you guys were trying very hard to kill us just a few weeks ago. Well, I guess war makes strange bedfellows. And if they're losing faith in Ekogaru…that might be **good** for us. But I wonder what caused that split between the Technomugar and Rikashans? I'd love to know…_

* * *

In the castle on Carufax, the harpsichord continued to play as the doors to Ekogaru's banquet hall opened when the Dark Lord raised his hand. 

Captain Wildstar looked inside. It was a huge chamber, illuminated by three huge chandeliers. There was a long table of dark polished wood.

Derek was somehow not too surprised to find four Technomugar guards there…seated at either side of Baron Anton Cha'rif. The guards had their weapons pointed at Cha'rif.

"Ah. I'm so glad that you joined our party," said Cha'rif. "Ekogaru…uh…Lordship, what is the meaning of this? I've been loyal enough…"

"I have detected some doubt," said Ekogaru. "And I am aware that your fleet has been guarding the _Argo_…and has exchanged fire with my forces?"

"Because your forces have attacked first?" said Cha'rif. "Because you fired upon my fleet and it only defended itself? Because you captured me when I was attempting to see to it that Aliscea was well-treated? Don't you wish your prize to be treated well? It is a shock, Ekogaru, when for my loyalty and self-sacrifice and the deaths of my men in your causes, I have received naught but a slap in the face. Our Scriptures say you are honorable and merciful, a good war god. I have seen little of honor from you and have seen no mercy to those poor devils out there whom you nailed to crosses to die in pain."

"Those poor devils were subhuman," said Ekogaru.

"They were also Rikashan subjects," countered Cha'rif. "We conquered them, but does not the conqueror owe his conquered ones protection, succor, and safety once they have surrendered? It is a grave dishonor per our Scriptures to abuse those who have surrendered and sworn loyalty to us as their liege-lords."

"The Scriptures and the Warrior Code are rot," smiled Ekogaru. The smile looked very dark and sardonic under his heavy mustache. "I wrote them to keep your people in line until I came back. Now that I have returned, they are null and void, and I can treat you as I please. I made them, I can break them!"

"But you said they would endure forever!" demanded Cha'rif.

"I did, but times have changed. Yvona, go over there and strike him. He has said quite _enough_."

Yvona struck Cha'rif across the mouth.

"Now break his neck, Yvona," said Ekogaru with a smile.

"Shouldn't that be my prerogative?" demanded Marda. "I am a Rikashan. I am your Priestess. He is a damned heretic."

"Marda, I have given my order, Yvona, kill him!"

As Cha'rif tried to gather his powers, Yvona reached towards him.

* * *

_I wish I could stop this now,_ thought Aliscea. _But…I am trying to gather myself for a strike on Ekogaru…I…._

But, all of them were shocked when, a moment later, a figure in white ran over and interspersed herself between Cha'rif and Yvona.

"_Stop that_!" snapped Nova as she grabbed Yvona by the wrist. "He hasn't done anything to _you!"_

"Get your hand _off_ me, you little whore," said Yvona. "Otherwise, I'll break your stinking wrist."

"You don't call my wife that," said Derek as he pulled his weapon (which he had retrieved earlier) and put it in Yvona's back.

"Shall we stop this?" said Ekogaru as he put his arms around Derek and Nova.

Both of them froze. The huge Dark Lord's touch was cold, and his grip was like iron as he squeezed them together.

"Let me kill them, Lord," said Yvona.

"You keep your silence, too, Yvona," rumbled Ekogaru. "As you may have observed, my patience can wear thin at my servants…_any_ of my servants. That includes you."

"You wouldn't…"

"Don't try me," said Ekogaru with a sickening smile. "And Baron Cha'rif, do calm down. And you too, Aliscea. None of us need to quarrel like this. Not when we can patch over our evident differences and we can serve together as a happy family sharing my Gift of Eternal Life as Yvona and Gralnacz do. I have brought you here to inform you that I offer eternal life as my servants to each and every one of you, even you, Captain Wildstar. That is why I wanted to see you so badly, Aliscea. That is why I gave orders for you to be brought to Me. Now, let us sit down in peace and break bread together. We have much to discuss."

_I'd love to get him **now,**_ thought Aliscea as she glanced towards Paul.

_Not yet,_ thought Paul.

_Why not?_

_Aliscea, we need some help. Why don't you call to your mother or something?_

_That's not a bad idea,_ thought Aliscea. She smiled and shut her eyes…

* * *

**II. TEMPTATION AND HATRED**

**Gamilon Imperial Flagship _Gamilstadt_**

**Desslok's Quarters**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1047 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

Desslok and his flagship were now at the head of a fleet ferrying supplies from the Small Magellenic Cloud back to the Great Magellenic Cloud for the reconstruction of the reborn planet Gamilon. 

However, the Gamilon-Garuman Emperor's mind was still upon Earth's preparations for the war with the Rikashans. He sat in his cabin with the Lady Astrena, his new, pregnant bride, thinking of his Empire's readiness for war.

_My fleets are now almost in place,_ he thought. _We must hurry to reassert our claim over Gamilon; with Iscandar nearby, I can't let the Rikashans or Technomugar come back and set up a beachhead on my planet. It would endanger Starsha and those on Iscandar and it would also be an unforgivable offense to the memories of those who died fighting for Gamilon._

"This is a dark time," he said as he sipped at his wine. "Isn't it, Astrena?"

"Darker than you think," she said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Aliscea is calling to me. She is ready to confront HIM."

"She's caught up with him? She has to stop him, Astrena…"

"At the right time," said Astrena in a cold voice. "And I foresee this is not it…"

_Aliscea, hold off,_ thought Astrena as she stretched her thoughts across almost 200,000 lightyears of space to her daughter. _This isn't the place or the time! Break it off and get out of there, then pray for guidance._

Desslok sat in awe as an astral image of Aliscea appeared in his cabin.

"Mother, what are you _talking_ about? I can get him now!"

"You can't do it alone, Aliscea!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You need to meditate upon the situation. I have foreseen the last struggle; and you will need the help of the Star Force and the _Argo._ You can't do it now!"

"But I can! Ekogaru has us has his prisoners! I can't sit here and do nothing!"

"Aliscea, leave this to your husband and his friends. If you don't, I foresee that you will only suffer great pain and throw away everything that we've fought for!"

"Mother, I have to kill him now! And my father's there! I have to make him pay for what he's done to me!"

"Aliscea, there'll be time to settle old scores later, when you defeat all of them."

"Mother, you have to understand." Then, Aliscea saw Desslok there. "Stepfather…you have to make her see reason! You know about revenge and vengeance, don't you?"

"Yes, and I also know it can destroy you," said Desslok. "Daughter, when I wanted to destroy the _Argo_ and Wildstar, I became a man who was a stranger even to myself. Blind revenge will earn you nothing but pain and homeless wandering, and will only tear you away from your beloved. Love is the first casualty of war. Don't repeat my mistakes, Aliscea!"

"Neither of you understand!" snapped Aliscea. "Then, I'll do it alone."

"If you do it alone, you shall end up alone," said Astrena as tears ran down her cheeks. "You don't want to know what I have foreseen for you."

"No worse than that which I have foreseen for myself. I know what I'm getting into, Mother."

"No you don't," sobbed Astrena. At that, Aliscea's astral image faded away.

"Desslok, if she acts rashly like that…" sobbed Astrena.

"I know," said Desslok as he briefly held her. "I know."

"What'll happen then?"

"If she is lost, we shall have no alternative except to fight him with what we have. I need to see Talan. Please excuse me."

At that, Desslok got up, with his cape snapping as he left.

_Oh, God, don't let her do it!_ Astrena thought as she began to weep uncontrollably. _Don't let her do it now!_

* * *

"Well, well, _well_...now that you're done talking to your foolish mother, let us go on…" said Ekogaru. 

"How did you know that?" snapped Aliscea.

"Oh, believe me, I know," said the Dark Lord. "Captain Wildstar, Nova, I would like to make a proposition to you two, first. How would you like to become the Duke and Duchess of Earth?"

"I have no ambition to become your dictator, Ekogaru. I've seen too much of the way you treat people to want to break my oath to defend Earth and serve under you," snapped Derek.

"Well, what if you and Nova see _this_?" he demanded.

Ekogaru stood up and raised his hands….

* * *

Derek and Nova found themselves standing on top of something that looked like a high mountain. Beside them were Aliscea and Paul. 

"Where are we?" said Nova.

"Outside of Time for a moment, above many things. I hope you like what I am about to show you."

"Where are Bryan and Angie?" demanded Paul Rosstowski.

"They are here, but they are not important to us at the moment," said Ekogaru. In the strange landscape, the wind blew his hair and his cloak back, making him look both dramatic and utterly demented.

"Why the mountain?" asked Derek.

"In one of your Scriptures from Earth, it is said that the Devil took the Christ to a high mountain and offered Him all of the glory and kingdoms of the world…if He would but worship him. I have more to offer you than that. Behold, the power you would have as one of my servants…the power of my Empire!"

A moment later, they were shown a group of bizarre visions that overwhelmed them.

Captain Wildstar saw himself as the Commander of a vast fleet of Technomugar ships led by the _Argo_, which was now painted all black and improved with strange new weapons systems. Derek wore a grey and black uniform, with a red and black peacoat similar to Yvona's. He was younger and stronger than he would ever be, for he was a cyborg like Ekogaru in this vision, and he was the Chief Admiral of Earth's new Defense Fleet…a new Technomugar Defense Fleet.

Power overwhelmed him, power, might and strength. For a moment, his heart leapt as he wiped out the entire Gamilon Fleet with one barrage. _That'd be my revenge upon Desslok for killing my parents,_ he thought with a warped smile. _I'd finally have a proper revenge, yes!_

Derek was both thrilled and sickened by how he saw his base impulses at work.

He returned home to Earth Defense Headquarters, where he saw Nova sitting in a short black peacoat, diaphanous white skirt, and bare feet on one of two golden thrones where Singleton's seat usually was. She smiled as Commander Singleton, clad in only a slave's loincloth, brought _her_ some coffee.

Derek looked at the real-life Nova, and saw her standing there with her eyes closed and fists clenched, trying to keep from being overwhelmed by what she saw. "Where is my Derek in this? I sort of like the idea of being a Queen, but like _that_?"

Behind the illusory Nova, Yvona whispered to her as an advisor. "He didn't bring the coffee fast enough, my Lady. He shows no respect for the superior race. Kill him!"

Derek stood in shock as the dream-Nova smiled and blew Singleton's brains out with a huge Technomugar blaster. Derek felt even more sickened when he stood "outside" of himself and saw his illusory self embrace Nova and kiss her for showing how "superior" they were.

The worst part of this temptation was how he felt part of himself drawn like a siren to the promise of power and eternal life and youth. Indeed, it was very seductive.

Not far away, Aliscea was also experiencing her own temptation. _Her_ temptation was to abandon her link and relationship with Paul and link to Ekogaru himself. She saw herself sharing the Dark Lord's power, receiving the worship of billions, standing naked in an immortal cyborg body that would never grow old, and bringing life or death to people upon a mere whim.

_This is horrible_, she thought. _The worst thing of all…it seems so attractive, Paul…_

_He's tempting me with eternal power over a whole battalion of soldiers, Aliscea,_ thought Paul in return.

_I'm being tempted with a Fleet,_ thought Derek, who, somehow, wasn't surprised the others could hear his thoughts.

_I'm being tempted with the Queenship of Earth,_ thought Nova.

_I'm being offered jewelry, eternal youth and riches,_ thought Angie as she came up bemused from the shadows that surrounded Ekogaru.

_I'm being offered the chance to go back in time an' be the Fifth Beatle_, thought Bryan as he stood entranced beside her. Somehow, he wanted to give in to this temptation.

_Do you want it?_ Angie thought. _Bryan__…please…._

_Tempting, but…don't know if I want it. Hey, can you hear me thoughts?_

_Yeah, I can,_ thought Angie.

_This is weird, luv,_ thought Bryan.

_Yeah, weird,_ thought Paul.

_I'm getting a headache,_ thought Nova.

_Do you feel like you're being forced to give in?_ Derek thought.

Nova nodded. Finally, she gathered enough strength to think (in a desperate attempt to block her mind from the Dark One) _"It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the Mouth of God.'" The Gospel of Matthew 4:4._

_Nova, you just discovered a means of defense….the proper means to keep him out of your head, like the Pellian K'alatinga discipline! _Aliscea responded. _Good! Everyone else…think of something important to you…preferably something with a holy significance of some kind…._

_I'm running a Buddhist sutra through my mind, followed by the Lord's Prayer, _thought Derek.

_I'm thinking the Rosary_, Paul thought.

_I'm praying to the Goddess,_ thought Angie.

_I'm murmuring the lyrics to 'Hey Jude'_ Bryan thought.

_I'm meditating upon the One,_ smiled Aliscea. _Everyone, think of whatever your God happens to be…and think of your homelands…_

The six of them joined hands, thinking encouraging thoughts, and smiled at Ekogaru.

A moment later, the weird vision faded. They were back in the banquet hall.

"Oh, you rejected my offer?" said Ekogaru.

"You could say that," said Captain Wildstar with a smile. "We don't like the illusions you offered us. Do you have anything else to say before we leave? We have a war to fight."

"Now," said Ekogaru to Derek and Nova. "I have described to you, as it were, the Carrot of Eternal life in my domain. Do you wish to see the Stick of my offer?"

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Derek. "I said, we didn't wish to see any more of your warped visions!"

"It is simple," he said. "My visions shall again overwhelm your mind, whether you like it or not! If my offer is eternal life, well, now, you shall see the consequences of rejecting my offer. I will begin with you, Captain."

"Which is?"

"Yes? What are you talking about?" added Nova.

"Death, Captain Wildstar. Death. Pure and simple You shall see Death!"

Ekogaru laid his hand on Derek's head. "No!" cried Nova.

Yvona responded to her cry by cuffing her niece in the side of her face. Nova fell down, stunned by the pain, and stunned by the sharp ringing in her ear.

"Don't you dare get up!" snapped Yvona as Nova tried to struggle up.

_Oh, my God, Derek's in agony; he's in pain,_ thought Nova while she clenched her fists.

Rosstowski ran to her aid. "Nova?"

"Paul, for God sakes, help him!"

Rosstowski ran up, but some force threw him back...

In Derek Wildstar's mind, he saw scene after horrific scene repeated.

* * *

Derek saw the planet bomb dissolving his parents' bodies to soot and ash. 

He saw people dying around him in the gun turret in the Battle of Gamilon.

He saw Captain Avatar sitting up in bed, looking at the dry, red Earth, and then dying. He saw the picture of the old man's family fluttering out of his hand.

He then saw Orion's death; a different version of it; with the old man grasping at the engineering console in agony before he fell down and died.

He observed Sergeant Knox taking laser hit after laser hit through his body and then collapsing near death on the Comet Empire right before he set off the explosives. There was an explosion, an explosion he just barely managed to get out of…and explosion that wounded him more with shrapnel wounds. Then, he saw the bloody form flying back to the _Argo_ and crashing, crawling out of his cockpit to die on the flight deck in a pool of blood. It was a gruesome death Nova had described to him, since she had tried to treat him on the flight deck and failed. However, Derek remembered that Nova had said that Sergeant Knox had died with a smile on his face.

Lastly, he saw a horrible set of images. Nova took a hit at the radar, and then fell down to the floor. He held her; they exchanged words...he couldn't tell what they were. She grasped his hand, smiled a sweet, yet defiant smile, and then she died right in his arms. It was simple; it was very blunt.

Ekogaru stood with his hand on top of Captain Wildstar, smiling as he watched the rest of them seeing the deaths of their loved ones. _Good. They look so beautiful, weeping in agony on my floor. Perhaps that'll break their damned resolve and make them surrender and join me._

Then, he put his hand on Nova's head…

* * *

Nova herself passed into her own private hell a second later. She was in her Admin whites in this vision; the _Argo_ had just returned home after an accident. The crew was lying collapsed on the deck, wearing helmets. They looked dead. 

Doctor Sane assured her that those wearing helmets would live; while those without helmets were dead.

Then, she found Derek sprawled inert on the deck, without a helmet.

She held him and called his name…he was dead.

In the vision, Nova then realized there was only one alternative; she found his Astro-Automatic lying near his body.

She picked it up, and was preparing to commit suicide when she heard Derek's voice.

_My God, it was just a weird vision,_ she thought as she realized she was kneeling in Ekogaru's banquet hall, and not on the _Argo._

"Derek!" she cried.

Ekogaru took away his hand; Derek saw Nova fighting to get to him; Yvona and Gralnacz were holding her back.

"Do you accept my offer to join us?" said Ekogaru. "I have just shown you what Death and mortality look like."

"I'd rather die _now_ then join with you!" snarled Derek.

"Good, you can turn to dust together. Both of you. Yvona, put them together."

Nova was thrown to the floor, landing in her husband's arms. She and Derek held each other, wondering what this madman was going to do next.

"Aliscea. It's too bad that you're so obstinate. I'm going to murder your uncooperative friends with my power. Do you like that? Did you like seeing Paul die in the vision I gave you? If you join me, maybe I'll just cast your friends and Paul back into the dungeon, instead of killing them!"

"Never!" cried Aliscea.

"Oh. You must like the idea of seeing them die, then?"

"You can't do that! You are the most horrible being I have ever met!"

And, at that, Aliscea screamed, extending her hands towards Ekogaru.

Fire roared from her hands at the Dark Lord.

_Is this the end of him?_ Derek thought in wild excitement. _Is this where she gets him? I hope she gets him…here and now!_

* * *

**III. AWE AND FEAR**

**Space Battleship _Argo_**

**In Orbit Over Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1121 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

On the _Argo_, Becky Voorhees looked at the cosmo-radar and gasped. 

"What is it?" asked Todd Voorhees at the battle radar.

"Something huge is emerging from hyperspace about 15,000 megameters away from us. It can't be this big…it can't…"

"What is it?" asked Venture.

"Switching to visual…"

The bridge crew looked up. A huge black mass was fading into existence not far from Carufax.

It was Ekogaru's Technomugar Fortress. A huge cloud of gas faded into existence with it, and some of the gas buffeted the _Argo_ as the Star Force again beheld the terror and ugliness of this huge construction, gleaming with lights upon lights, towers, weapons, and looking utterly untouchable by anything that Man could devise.

Then, Ekogaru's astral image appeared on the _Argo._

"_I have not properly welcomed you to Carufax_," said the Dark Lord. "_I have asked your Captain and his friends to join Me, but they have refused. Because they are so obstinate, and because Aliscea of Pellias has just dared to attack Me, they shall soon **die.** You shall join them, shortly, along with Carufax. Yea, everyone on this planet shall die because your Captain and Aliscea were so damned obstinate! Then, in a few weeks, Earth shall suffer the same sentence of Death unless she surrenders to Me. Do you like that? Does it make you happy? Do you like being the instruments of genocide? Do you like having a leader who is so foolish that he would allow millions to die rather than join Me?_"

"It's not what I choose!" screamed Captain Wildstar's voice through the vision.

"And it is not what I choose!" screamed Aliscea's voice.

Ekogaru looked confused, and then he faded away.

Before Venture could react to that, Becky cried. "Venture! There's twenty huge space battleships coming towards us! Range, one thousand megameters! They're coming in fast!"

The enemy ships roared in, firing as if their commanders were insane. The barrage was terrible. Ship after ship in Cha'rif's Rikashan Fleet was blown apart, and the _Argo_ took five major hits.

The whole ship trembled as the second bridge was hit. Down below the first bridge, the second bridge was turned into a holocaust. Fire filled the compartment, and there were screams as brave men and women took mortal injuries and died at their posts.

More energy beams roared in, and the aft gun turrets were battered, hit, and then knocked out of action altogether. "The aft turrets are out," said Sandor. "We can only fight back with our forward turrets."

"Well, let's do it!" said Venture. "Dash, open our remaining guns! Get that fleet!"

"Yessir," said Dash. "Nishina! Let's _do_ it!"

"Right, sir. Open all guns. Target…enemy fleet. Range, nine megameters…turrets one and two set. Open fire!"

The _Argo_ returned fire. Blue energy blasted out of her main guns yet again, with the mighty old ship fighting back even as she burned in several places.

One set of beams ripped through one of the enemy ships, while another glanced off one ship.

A Rikashan battleship nearby was blown apart defending the _Argo_, but one of her surviving mates helped the Earth ship return fire, not caring about the barrage she was being subjected to.

"How bad is it?" asked Ter'garv aboard the _B'eoneraze._

"Our fleet's down to six ships, sir," said a young officer with dark blond hair and a beard. "We can't take much more of this. Are we going down with the _Argo_?"

"Aye, that's what Baron Cha'rif would want, if it came down to it. I wonder why she's not readying her wave gun?"

"The ship's bow looks damaged, sir," said another officer as he pulled up a graphic of the battered, smoking _Argo_.

"That must be it," said Ter'garv. "I would have welcomed that sight not long ago, but now, I don't. It isn't right for those mechanical scum-masters to wipe us out like that…no…it isn't! Prepare our D'IATS cannon! If we're fated to die, at least, let us take them _with_ us!"

"Yessir," said an engineer. "Decrease output to engines, prepare D'IATS cannon for firing!"

On the Argo, Sandor looked up with a painful expression on his face as the ship continued to fight. "I've just heard from Bridge #2," he said.

"And?" asked Venture as explosion after explosion went off outside, illuminating Dash and the rest of the first bridge crew with a deadly scarlet light.

"An enlisted man has just reported that five members of the second bridge crew were killed, along with three damage control men from my Group who were there trying to repair the damage."

"Who was it?"

"Moriyama, Fedoyor, and…and, Royster, sir. I now have less than half of my Group left."

From his post, Yamazaki said, "There's another bad fire in the engine room, Sandor."

Sandor stood, wiping tears from his eyes. "I'll help you with that. Yamazaki, let's go."

_I wonder if we'll make it through this?_ thought Venture as another explosion went off outside. _This might be the end for all of us. Well…at least we can say that we went down fighting…_

* * *

**IV. ALISCEA FOREVER**

**Ekogaru's Castle on Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1124 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

"_And it is not what I choose_!" screamed Aliscea in the banquet hall as Ekogaru stood with his eyes closed, laughing softly as he taunted the Star Force. He didn't choose to let them see the fact that Aliscea had blown one of his arms off in her first attack, of course. 

Ekogaru looked confused as he turned towards the young woman. She bared her teeth and blasted yet again.

This psionic blast of fire caught Ekogaru right in the face. The Dark Lord fell screaming to the floor.

_Now,_ thought Aliscea. _You see, Mother? You see? Even the memories within the Matrix, the memories of three thousand years of your history….the memories are saying now is the time to finish him!_

_Aliscea, stop it! I don't see victory for you!_

_Why not? I have him!_

_Then, beware! Ekogaru has many strange powers and tricks…_thought Astrena.

Before Yvona or Gralnacz could react, Paul Rosstowski ran up, taking a weapon from a fallen Technomugar guard. He put the weapon in Ekogaru's chest and yelled, "All right, you mechanical piece of garbage! _Stand up!_"

Ekogaru stood. His appearance made Nova gasp with revulsion. Most of the plastic hide that had covered his face had melted off, leaving a gleaming metallic skull-like face in which baleful red electronic eyes glowed.

"She hasn't gotten me yet," said Ekogaru as the mechanical mandible moved. "No! Gralnacz! Yvona! Stand back. This is between Aliscea and I. Hands off me, you animal!"

Ekogaru caused blue flame to lash out from his body. Paul was thrown back in agony, with the stolen Technomugar sidearm skittering along the stone floor.

Aliscea looked on in fear and revulsion as she felt Paul's agony through their bond, but, at least he lived. She looked at Derek and silently sent into his mind. _You have the advantage. I am unhurt._

_What should I do?_

_He is now hurt. For the first time, he feels the pain of his own war. You are armed. Take him prisoner and make him order his guards to stand down. They won't fire at us if we have their God in our hands. Consider this like a chess game from your world. You have the King in check. Now, let us make it a check-mate!_

Derek smiled. He liked this idea.

As the Dark Lord stood, Captain Wildstar whipped out his weapon, followed by Nova. "Ekogaru, you will put up your hands and surrender! Order your guards to stand down and call off your invasion and Ji'had now! You're coming back to the _Argo_ with us, and you will be taken to Earth to be interrogated and then stand war crimes trials for your atrocities! Give it up! Aliscea isn't hurt yet, but you are!"

"Yes, I am hurt," said Ekogaru as he stood there staggering. He looked at his would-be defenders. "Gralnacz, I place you in command. Do nothing further until these animals take me prisoner."

"What?" said Gralnacz.

"You're _letting them take you_?" screamed Yvona. "Lordship…my niece, that whore…she's actually _touching_ you!"

It looked very bleak indeed for the Dark Lord as Nova and Aliscea put manacles over his booted ankles.

"If I can find one of those damper bracelets…" said Aliscea. "…we can subdue him."

"I think he put one on Cha'rif," said Nova. "We can find him and take that bracelet."

"Good," said Derek as Paul Rosstowski struggled up. The Technomugar guards parted as Ekogaru nodded to them. He looked as if he was the very picture of defeat.

Ekogaru just glanced at Gralnacz. He sent to him, _This__ is a little trick of mine. Play along._

Gralnacz nodded.

Ekogaru then glanced at Yvona. _Follow me_, he thought. _When the time is right…_

Aliscea then put a forceful knee into the Dark Lord's rear end. "Move," she snapped.

The Dark Lord walked off, battered, burned, with Aliscea's triumphant hand on him, and with Derek and Nova's blasters pressed into his sides.

* * *

"You have him?" said Baron Cha'rif in shock as the procession met him in the hall. The Rikashan Baron was in the midst of being beaten by some Technomugar guards when the guards saw the Dark Lord as a prisoner and stopped. 

"Yes, they have me," said Ekogaru. "The _Ji'had_ ends here, Cha'rif. They're taking me back to Earth. Tell your people that it is over."

"Ekogaru?" said Cha'rif in shock.

"Isn't that what you _wanted_?" said Ekogaru in an utterly acid voice. He looked at Derek and Nova. "You two stand back. I won't be shot trying to escape."

"You are our prisoner," countered Derek. Wildstar shoved the Dark Lord. "Now, you madman, you will listen to us!"

"Suit yourself, scum," said Ekogaru with a wicked light in his eyes. "Well, Aliscea, hurry up and get that bracelet on me. Do what you must, but do it quickly."

"Believe me, I will do so," said Aliscea as she took the damper bracelet off Cha'rif and prepared to put it on Ekogaru. "Derek, Nova, stand back. Please. There could be an electrical discharge that might hurt you when I have him subdued."

Derek shoved the Dark Lord before he let him go, and even Nova couldn't resist giving the Evil One a little shove herself.

Aliscea came forward with the bracelet. She smiled, looking triumphant. Pride burned within her. "Checkmate!" she said in a ringing voice. "Ekogaru the Great, prepare to face the vengeance of all of the civilized peoples of the Galaxy, and prepare to face _my_ vengeance!"

"No, prepare to face something else," said the Dark Lord as the bracelet began to touch his hide.

"What? I've beaten you!"

"No, prepare to face…_my_ vengeance," said the wounded Ekogaru with a sick gleam in his eyes. A green fire burned in them. Then, the Dark Lord blazed forth with his own flame.

The bracelet switched position, locking around Aliscea's wrist.

Fire blazed around Aliscea. She screamed.

The Dark Lord stood laughing as a burning chain wrapped itself around a helpless Aliscea. A moment later, Derek, Nova, and Paul looked on in revulsion as Ekogaru hauled Aliscea up by her chains. In tatters and in chains, she looked incredibly helpless.

And, Paul couldn't feel their psi-link anymore. In his mind, he cried, _Aliscea, Aliscea!_ But, he got no answer, and couldn't feel her presence at all.

Aliscea looked at Paul with pain in her eyes.

Paul shut his eyes as the tears began to flow.

Then, Ekogaru howled in triumph, and he and Aliscea disappeared.

"Now, who is _superior?_" snapped Yvona. "And now, who are the prisoners? _You are!_ Men, surround them!"

* * *

On the _B'eoneraze,_ Ter'garv yelled, "FIRE!" 

He pushed on the firing grips of the D'IATS cannon control.

His ship's D'IATS cannon went off, blasting a green cataract of energy towards the Technomugar fleet. A moment later, the eight remaining Technomugar space battleships were consumed like dust in the wind.

Everything was quiet. "Now, the Baron's fleet is down to six ships; this battleship, one other space battleship, one cruiser, and three destroyers."

"And the _Argo_, sir," said one of his officers.

He looked at the burning _Argo._ "And the _Argo_," he said softly. "But there's still that Fortress. I pray that the Baron and Wildstar can get back here soon with Aliscea and use that information the Baron gave Wildstar so we can put out the lights of Ekogaru's Fortress…forever. The fear of Ekogaru has dominated our people long enough!"

* * *

Yvona Josiah was in her glory while she stood smiling in the middle of the corridor in the palace inside the castle complex. This part of the castle had been remodeled by the Rikashan governor (who was now dead, executed by Ekogaru's forces), and it looked newer than other portions of the building. She had slapped her niece in the face several times, bring forth fresh tears of rage and pain on Nova's part as she and Derek stood there in manacles, being shoved around by her body-armor clad Technomugar guards. 

Yvona smiled at Nova. "So we don't neglect your husband, let's slap him too, eh?"

Yvona smiled, and began to slap Derek Wildstar in the mouth.

Nova's heart was breaking as she saw her husband wincing under her mad aunt's blows. When Yvona was done, Derek's mouth was bleeding.

Yvona then kicked the _Argo's_ Captain in the behind, laughing as he fell to the ground.

"Stop hurting him like that!" screamed Nova.

"All right, join him!" yelled Yvona.

Yvona then kicked her niece in the behind, laughing as she fell beside her husband.

_I'd love to kick **you**,_ thought Nova in rage. Then, she felt sick. _My God, what's happening to me? I'm becoming as cruel as she is!_

_"Chain their damned ankles!"_ roared Yvona.

Two smiling guards put fresh manacles around Derek and Nova's ankles and forced them to their feet. It was hard for them to walk, but they tried to keep as much pride as they could with bleeding mouths and shaking legs.

"Should we chain the rest of these animals?" asked a Technomugar guard.

"No, let us not do that. Let them have a little bit of freedom until they're back in the dungeon. Then, they'll all have their chains back soon enough," snarled Yvona.

"What about me?" demanded Cha'rif.

"You too, you rotten, diseased traitor!" said Yvona with a sick grin disfiguring her face. She slapped Cha'rif and then spat into his face. The Baron winced at this indignity, but he still stood proud. "Of course, Ekogaru has not gone far with Aliscea. He is a bit tired and has to use a shuttle to get her back to the Fortress…but you will not be going there. _You_ will die here on Carufax!"

"Thank you," muttered Cha'rif acidly. Wincing as a guard shoved Captain Wildstar forward, he thought, _They__ took that damper bracelet off me, and Aliscea still lives. I can feel it. If they let down their guard…_

Gralnacz and Yvona stood there laughing. Yvona laughed all the harder as Gralnacz kicked Paul Rosstowski in the rear end while she beat Bryan Hartcliffe with a small rod.

"Welcome to the family, son-in-law, as you say it on Earth," laughed Gralnacz while Yvona spent a few minutes slapping poor Angie Hartcliffe around. "I hope you like the idea that you'll never see Aliscea again."

"You're wrong. I will see her again!"

"Shall you, Rosstowski?" said Gralnacz. "I don't think so. I think I should shut your stinking mouth first. Kneel."

"Like hell!"

"_Kneel_!" yelled Gralnacz. Paul Rosstowski was shoved to his knees, and a blaster was put against his head by Gralnacz.

Yvona thought this was incredibly amusing. As she giggled with a hand to her mouth, Cha'rif whispered, "Captain Wildstar…?"

"Yes?"

"I can take them. Follow my lead. When I attack, run and take their weapons. We'll meet outside, Captain. Then, we can find Aliscea. Guard your wife well. Soon, I hope all of us can be toasting Ekogaru's defeat on your ship."

Derek nodded. "Good. I'll wait for you to move."

"Great. Do your best in those chains. I'll free you soon."

Yvona kicked Nova again. "I think I'll kill you," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Yes? How would you like to have your head lopped off, Nova? What do you think of that?"

"You can rot in Perdition," whispered Nova through her tears.

Derek's heart dropped as Yvona shoved Nova forward, clearly wanting to separate her from the others.

Suddenly, Gralnacz screamed. He was on fire, thanks to Baron Cha'rif.

"What the…?" said Yvona.

As Yvona turned her heard, she received a blast of fire right in her face as Cha'rif attacked. The cyborg woman fell screaming in agony as Cha'rif kicked her aside. He took her weapon and began to fire at the Technomugar guards.

"Nova!" cried Derek. "Get behind me! I'll defend you!"

Nova, hobbled by her heavy chains, ran over as best she could, falling to one knee but gallantly helped to her feet by Rosstowski and Bryan Hartcliffe. Bryan then grabbed a weapon and tossed it to Angie.

"You take that!" he cried. "I'll rout these other guys!"

"Bryan!" cried Angie as her husband picked up a weapon and began to fire like a maniac towards the oncoming Technomugar guards. He disappeared into the smoke.

Crying, Angie fired at another guard as he passed her. Then, she looked at Nova. "Nova! Spread your ankles!"

Nova obeyed, gratified at a little freedom as Angie fired at the chain that ran between her pump-clad feet. With her legs free, she would be able to run a bit better alongside Derek.

Angie then yelled. "Now hold up your wrists and put them against the wall!"

Another shot came, and Angie freed Nova's wrists. Then, Derek ran up, and Angie cut Derek's wrist and ankle chains in a similar fashion.

"Run!" yelled Angie. Behind her came Paul Rosstowski, reeling and feeling sick because his link with Aliscea was gone.

"Run faster!" cried Angie "More of them are coming that way!"

And run they did. Derek and Nova ran down the corridor into darkness as if every Techomugar cyborg ever constructed was after them. Since it was about thirty against six, this was not so far from the truth.

Cha'rif used his mental powers and unlocked the manacles on Derek and Nova's wrists and ankles. They struggled out of their chains, and then picked up their Astro-Automatics once again.

"Run!" cried Cha'rif. "Go out that door…you'll be in the courtyard. Find the nearest armored personnel carrier…I'll meet you out there!"

"Thanks!" yelled Captain Wildstar. He and Nova stood holding off some more enemy troopers, and then they took off as if the very Hounds of Hell were after them.

"I hope they'll be all right," said Nova as they ran.

"I don't think Cha'rif will lead them astray. Not now."

"You trust him now?" gasped Nova.

Derek nodded. "We have no choice now. We need his help to get Aliscea back. We have to catch up with her."

"Do you think we can catch up with Ekogaru?" gasped Nova.

"We have no choice," said Derek. "If we don't catch up with her, it's the end for all of us. It's the end for Earth."

Nova only nodded in agreement.

* * *

**_To Be Continued With Act Three: "Towards the Desert" _**

* * *

**_THERE ARE NOW 30 DAYS TO THE ARRIVAL OF EKOGARU IN EARTH'S SOLAR SYSTEM_**


	3. Chapter 3

**ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE**

**STAR BLAZERS****---****A WOUND (LIKE A KNIFE TO THE HEART)**

* * *

**Being the ninth part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz**

**ACT THREE: TOWARDS THE DESERT**

* * *

**I. DUST AND ASHES**

**Space Battleship _Argo_**

**In Orbit Over Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1202 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

After the battle, Commander Mark Venture had decided to call a staff meeting in the main briefing room.

So far, the results were not encouraging.

"At this point in time, the _Argo_ is in very bad shape," said Sandor. "We just got that latest fire put out in the engine room, but with some damage to some of the spare parts stores we had in there. While the main engine will still work, if we find ourselves in another battle, we might sustain some damage we can't fix."

"You said that you have less than half of your technicians left?" asked Venture.

Sandor nodded. "So far, the people from the Engine Group have been able to take up the slack somewhat. Miss Henson has been especially helpful; she's learned technical details that are beyond her usual sphere of experience." Not far away, Diane Henson smiled. _Nice to be appreciated for once,_ she thought. "Still…it's going to be difficult to replace the men and women we've lost…especially Royster. Losing him was almost like a physical blow…like a stab wound."

"A blow like a knife to the heart?" asked Dash.

Sandor nodded, trying to keep his tears from showing.

"I think you know why we're here," said Venture. "Commandant Ter'garv of the Rikashans has come to the same realization that we have; that it's too dangerous to stay here much longer. He has said that he may soon have to leave, even if he has to leave his Baron Cha'rif in enemy hands. We may soon have to make a similar decision."

"But we're not gonna leave the Captain in their hands, are we?" yelled Homer.

"Or Nova?" demanded Eager.

"Or Rosstowski or Aliscea?" snapped Conroy.

Venture put up his hands for silence. "I haven't reached that decision yet. All I can tell you is that Ter'garv told us over a secure channel that it would probably be a good idea to leave in six hours and follow him to a place of sanctuary within the Baron Cha'rif's territory in the Rikashan Empire. He said that he could cover us so that we could repair the ship in one of the Cha'rif Clan's domains."

"But ain't that enemy territory?" asked Eager.

"It is," said Sandor. "However, from what we've been able to ascertain about the Rikashan Empire, it is controlled by the R'Khell Priesthood, with seven great clan leaders under that. Within the clan leaders' spheres of authority, you could say there are seven semi-feudal states within the Empire. Clan Cha'rif, we understand, controls one of the largest of these states. As a respected Clan of the Empire, the Cha'rifs have some limited autonomy in their territory. Almost like a state within a state. That could help us."

"How do you guys know all this?" said Homer.

"I spoke with Ter'garv," said Venture. "He has been Baron Cha'rif's second-in-command for years and served his father before that. He said he has been in psionic contact with the Baron Cha'rif's father, Duke Sta'gin Cha'rif. He said that people in the Rikashan Empire are growing sick of the cruelties of the R'Khell Priesthood, which leads the worship of Ekogaru. Ter'garv said he has a hunch that very soon, either Sta'gin or Anton will make a bid to become the new Lord of Rikasha and take over the whole Empire. He said he then hopes that they would purge the R'Khell priesthood, end the war against us, and join in the fighting against Ekogaru on our side once Ekogaru's atrocities become known."

"That sounds like a recipe for civil war," said Dash. "Aren't the R'Khell priests themselves armed?"

"I admit it does," said Venture. "However, a holy war against Ekogaru and his priests would certainly be a factor that would meld the Empire behind the leadership of a Cha'rif. Ter'garv said everyone respects their clan since in three thousand years, they have produced more Rikashan Lords than any of the other clans, and that the current Lord, T'Grish Zaden, actually came into power in their last revolution because he was a kinsman of the Cha'rifs."

"So what are we doin?" asked Eager.

"First, we're getting the Captain and the others off that planet, along with Baron Cha'rif," said Venture. "Hemsford, I want you to ready a full assault party of twelve Marines led by yourself. Your job is to get down there, find the Captain and the others, and get out. This time, don't take non-lethal force, since you might be fighting the Technomugar…"

"Sir, we're using lethal force this time, right?" said Hemsford.

Venture nodded. "This is no longer just a mission to apprehend the Hartcliffes and the Rosstowskis, but is a mission to get Captain Wildstar back as well. As to what will happen to the runaways, I'll leave that decision to Wildstar. However, the understanding is that you have six hours to carry out your mission. If you don't find them in six hours, as of 1230 Hours, you are to return to the ship, since we are weighing anchor and leaving this planet at 1900, whether we find Wildstar, Aliscea and the others or not."

The crew gasped at that. "That'd make it real convenient for _you,_ wouldn't it, Venture?" snapped Homer. "Then, you'd finally be the Captain! Wouldn't you love that?"

"Homer, that was uncalled for! This is a staff meeting!"

"And even thinking about leaving Wildstar behind is uncalled for, too!"

Venture released a deep breath. "Look, Homer. It wasn't an easy decision for me to even consider, let alone make! However, Captain Avatar gave orders a few times that would have resulted in Wildstar and others being left behind…"

"The battle with the Gamilon Magnetron Wave Fortress," said Sandor. "Remember?"

Homer just glared at Sandor. Sandor looked evenly at Homer and continued with, "In that battle, I understand that Captain Avatar gave orders for Wildstar and I to be left behind. I was told later on that you were about to carry out his orders and attempt a warp when Wildstar called in, Venture."

Venture nodded. He added, "And if you remember the look on my face then, Homer, I didn't like the idea much. I also didn't like just having to sit there the night you went crazy and tell you that we couldn't turn the _Argo_ around and head back for home because your father was dying. But, I couldn't turn the ship around then and risk suicide for one person. We can't do that again now, if it comes down to it. In the meantime, we have to try to get Wildstar back, and Aliscea. They're the two most important prisoners in Ekogaru's hands right now."

"Yeah? What about poor Rosstowski? Bryan and Angie Hartcliffe?" countered Homer. "And Nova? Venture, she's one of your best friends! You know what those people do to women! If you let her stay behind, you'd…"

"We're doing all we can to get them back," countered Venture. "Now, Homer, you just _shut up!_ We have other things to discuss."

"Aye, aye, _sir_," said Homer.

* * *

"Was it easy?" asked Holly Venture as she sat on the aft observation deck in full uniform in a wheelchair a bit later on.

"No, Holly, it wasn't," sighed Mark. "I almost had to throw that damn Homer out of there."

"I think you two don't get along because you don't know how to talk to him. You let him get you angry, and he reacts to that because he's so excitable. Other people don't talk to him that way."

"I'm not other people, Holly. I'm me. I'm a stupid guy from New York State with a little brother who loves to play soccer. And the crew doesn't look up to me. They tolerate me. They look up to Wildstar and those close to him."

"They look up to you, Mark. Don't talk like that!"

"Like hell they do," he sighed. "They probably respect Nova more than they respect me. She wouldn't have let that meeting turn into a near-fracas. And she knows how to get their loyalty in battle."

"So do you, Mark. And if you're looking to resign the post of First Officer, I can tell you Nova wouldn't accept it. She told me before she left that she had a hard time dealing with the decisions that she had to make while in command that…well…that made me like _this_," said Holly as she tapped at the large wheels on her wheelchair. "She wants to be a doctor, Mark. Not a ship's Captain, and not a First Officer, either. That's your job. And you can do it."

"Can I?" sighed Mark. "Can I carry out my duties as First Officer?"

"You can," said Holly with brimming eyes. "I believe in you, and so does everyone else."

She reached over as best she could and kissed him. "And don't worry about me. I'll be all right on the Second Bridge. I don't need to be able to walk to carry out my mission there at Astrogation. I'll manage."

Holly pushed the wheelchair forward and began to turn around. "We'd better get going now, Mark. I'll see you later, darling."

"Thanks, Holly," said Venture as he patted her hand. "You make one hell of a wife, you know that?"

"Thanks," said Holly with a smile. "See you later."

* * *

**II. DESPERATION**

**The Courtyard around Castle Pa'Cranda**

**Planet Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1226 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

Bryan Hartcliffe leaned against a stone pillar, feeling as if he was going to vomit. He hadn't run so hard or so long for months.

"You all right, Angie?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank God I didn't break a heel or anything in these boots…"

"You want pain, you try running in pumps sometime," gasped Nova as she ran up beside Angie. "Baron, where are we?"

"Outside of the castle," said Baron Anton Cha'rif as he came up with Wildstar. He wasn't breathing hard like the others, since Rikashan physiology was a bit more efficient than Terran physiology in such a situation. "If we take that street, we'll pass through the town square. The motor pool isn't far from there. Ekogaru's powers were weakened, so he would still need a transport to get to the air base, which is about twenty-five of your kilometers from here. I twice served on this planet when I was coming up through the ranks, once as a flight officer, and once as the Planetary Governor. That's how I knew that palace so well…my wife and I once lived in there. In fact, my son was born here on this planet."

"Thanks for the history lesson," gasped Derek. "Can we see if we can catch up with Ekogaru?"

"I believe we can," said Cha'rif. "I…"

A little girl in a torn sackcloth dress and dirty bare feet came up. She didn't speak, but her eyes were brimming with tears. She extended a hand towards Cha'rif.

"_Jan_," he said softly in Rikashan. "_E'tlla__ evin da'crats ento m'beliezan.__ Ne_?" (Little Girl. You look hungry. Yes?)

"_Ne__, ne, ne_," sobbed the little girl. (Yes, Yes, Yes…)

Cha'rif looked around and then quickly opened a small pouch on his belt. He handed the little girl some gold coins.

"_Ne_," he said quietly. "_E'tella__ evin ento m'belieza.__ Hanta! D'rats egen da'vuts, Tanti." _(Yes. Take this. Now you can feed that hunger. Be strong, little girl…)

"_Ne_," said the girl. "_Atla__, atla, atla_…" (Yes. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!)

Cha'rif hugged her and she ran off. He looked at Derek and explained, "She was hungry. I gave her enough for a month's worth of food, some new clothes, and shoes. I also told her things would get better."

"Thank you," said Derek.

"That was very kind of you," said Nova.

Cha'rif sighed. "When we were enemies, you saw only my harsh side. I'm not that kind of person, you know. I'm an effective warrior, but I really hate war. I'd much rather live in peace."

"Well, it looks like we have something in common," said Derek.

"You feel the same way? I'm not surprised. You seem like a decent man, Captain Wildstar," said Cha'rif with a smile. "But enough. We'd better get going."

Derek nodded at that.

* * *

"When I ran things here, it was better than this," muttered Cha'rif as they entered the town square. "_Much_ better than this."

A man with nothing on but a ragged loincloth was trying to move a heavy cart all by himself as if he was a pack animal. He looked dirty and emaciated.

Angie felt sickened at this sight, as well as others.

Not far away, a little boy in only a rag stood playing in the gutter. He ran up to Cha'rif and told him something in rapid-fire Rikashan. Cha'rif gave him some more coins and patted him on the head.

Cha'rif turned to Nova. "Sorry about the interruption. The man with the cart is his father. When Ekogaru arrived, he said that the Technomugar forces took his mother, his sister, their pack animals, and all of their possessions except for their cart.."

"What a horrible government," said Nova. "They have no reason to treat these people like that!"

Cha'rif nodded. "This is what the future holds for Earth if you don't stop Ekogaru."

"Oh, my God!" cried Hartcliffe. "Look at this, Wildstar! This is sick!"

Derek looked. Not far away, there was a cross. A woman who had once been attractive was nailed to it. She was now dead, and was partly covered with flies.

Cha'rif read the inscription above her head, translating as he read. "_My name was Mashelle. I refused to mate with the Mighty High Protector Gralnacz. This is my penalty. Ordered by the Lady Yvona, this day. I hope I rot in Hell._"

"All this because you resisted being raped," murmured Baron Cha'rif. "Poor child."

"This is making me sick," sobbed Nova.

"Me too," replied Derek.

"Scum!" snarled Cha'rif. "I hope that all of you Technomugarians end up like this! You are the most cold-hearted beings I have ever met!"

"Oh, really, traitor?" asked a cold voice behind them.

Cha'rif turned, and saw that he was facing a group of ten Technomugar soldiers in armor and an officer in a regular uniform.

"My name is Helvetzi," said the tall, bald Technomugar officer in command. "You'd better give up, Cha'rif. We've got you worsted. You and your treason-born Terranische friends. Otherwise, it won't go well for Rikashans in the New Order."

"Where are Lord Ekogaru and Aliscea?" demanded Cha'rif. "I had captured Aliscea first. She is mine by right of conquest, as are these Terrans I have recruited to our cause."

"You recruited them?" said Helvetzi. "You're telling the truth? I don't think so."

An armored personnel carrier pulled out, roaring out of the courtyard in a cloud of dust. Helvetzi considered something for a moment, then he looked at Cha'rif with a wicked smile.

"Ekogaru just left in that carrier," said Helvetzi. "If you and your friends take that other one, perhaps you can catch up with him?"

"Why would you give us a carrier?" asked Cha'rif.

Helvetzi came up to Cha'rif and he whispered, "Vergar's request. I am in his Group. He said I was to do it. Get in there, quickly…before you're noticed."

"If you're really out to help us, do something, Helvetzi," said Captain Wildstar after he and Nova whispered to each other.

"What?" barked Helvetzi.

"Free those people," said Nova. "There are children starving here and people dying for no reason. If you really have a heart, help them!"

"Scum!" he roared, spitting right before Nova's feet. He bounded up to her with a hand extended; Nova flinched as if she was about to be struck, and Derek unholstered his weapon.

Instead, Helvetzi stopped before her and only tapped Nova's cheek. "You'd better…" he hissed. Then, he whispered, "You'd better be careful. I'll do what I can. Bear in mind, we are being watched."

Nova just nodded. Helvetzi then grabbed Captain Wildstar's arm. He glared at Derek and whispered, "Put that damned thing away. Otherwise I'll have to shoot you. Are you too damn stupid to see I've just given you a chance to run?"

"Thanks," murmured Derek.

Then, Helvetzi struck Derek in the face. Nova screamed, until Helvetzi winked at her before yelling, "Scum! Get in that armored personnel carrier! Now! All of you! Terven! You drive them! Take them to the quarry, strip them, and execute them there! Got it?"

Terven, who was faceless-looking in his battle armor, saluted. He nodded, and then he and four others forced the Terrans and Cha'rif into the carrier after taking everyone's weapons.

In the carrier, the Trooper locked the hatch after the four others followed him in.

One of Terven's men roughly shoved Nova and Derek into webbed seats beside each other. Behind them, Angie screamed as she was struck by the armored trooper.

"Strip!" he yelled. "The women, first! Take off your damned boots!" he yelled as he put a gun in Angie's ribs.

"Hey, stop treatin' her like this!" yelled Bryan Hartcliffe. Beside him, Paul Rosstowski was silent, mourning in his thoughts.

Another guard punched Bryan.

"No, we'll cooperate," said Nova. She kicked off her shoes and went barefoot. "Start with your boots, Angie. Then take everything else off like they want," said Nova in a despairing voice as she began to undo her ascot. "Maybe then they'll stop hitting the rest of us."

Wildstar didn't know what to think of this. _Is this some weird game? Why are they acting like this if they're helping us?_

_Because not all of them are on our side, _thought Cha'rif. _Not all of Terven's men can be trusted and I'm not sure about Terven himself! _

From the driver's seat, Terven took off his helmet and smirked at them. He had a scarred but strangely genial face with blue-green skin. Nova was now down to her blouse, having shrugged her way out of her jacket. She began to undo the blue necktie that she wore with her Naval-issue blouse under her white jacket and ascot.

"What are you smiling at?" demanded Cha'rif. "When does the charade end?" he whispered.

"Watch," whispered Terven.

Terven raised his hand and the guard who had taken Angie's boots off her suddenly collapsed into a heap. Another one, who was beginning to unbutton Nova's blouse from the collar down (against her protests that she could do it herself), collapsed into her lap and then clattered to the personnel carrier's metal deck. The other two Technomugar troopers fell down a moment later.

A somewhat shocked Nova pulled the helmet off the trooper who had fallen into her lap. She felt the side of his neck for a pulse. "There's nothing," she said while retrieving a black and gold rank epaulet that the dead trooper had pulled off her blouse.. "I think he's dead."

"Oh, he _is_ dead," said Terven with a laugh. "Had to kill him, I'm afraid. Damned loyalist. Now, I'd better get you out of here before anyone suspects. Oh, yes, you can get dressed again. I don't get any thrill out of looking at prisoners."

He started the personnel carrier, speaking with Cha'rif in Rikashan. Cha'rif nodded and then looked back at them.

"He has a plan, and he said he'd like me to do something when this carrier's hydrogen fuel runs out. For now, we shall follow Ekogaru. And, yes, my senses tell me this one is on our side. As I said before…even some of the Technomugar are sick of Ekogaru."

"Yeah, we sorta saw that," said Angie as she pulled her boots on. She looked back at Nova, who had just buttoned her blouse back up and fixed her necktie. However, she refused to put her jacket, ascot, or shoes back on for the moment. "Ma'am, what's with you?"

"It's hot in here," said Nova. "And my feet hurt a little. I could do with a few minutes out of my shoes…if you'll let me get my weapon back, Terven."

"The one who was accosting you had it. Take it, and give your husband his weapon back, too. I think you'll need them."

"Thanks," said Captain Wildstar. He smiled when Nova handed him his weapon.

Now we're ready, thought Derek. _But for what?__ I hope we can catch up with Ekogaru…and then finish him off. He looked weakened…maybe Cha'rif could do it…maybe we could do it…_

* * *

**III. THE MADNESS OF LORD EKOGARU**

**The Area Outside of The Town of Pa'Cranda**

**Planet Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1312 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

"Scum-masters! Freaks! _Traitors_!" raved the burned and twisted form of Ekogaru as he personally ran his armored personnel carrier.

"What is the problem, Lordship?" asked Gralnacz.

"We have traitors in our own ranks!" raged Ekogaru. "One of my own Technomugar is driving that carrier chasing us! And with my circuits damaged, I cannot link properly to the Fortress to enhance my power! I am crippled!"

"Good," said Aliscea with a smile from the back of the armored personnel carrier. To get her in the carrier, they had been forced to remove her chains, but she still wore her damper bracelet. "Now we're even!"

"What do you mean, fool?" raved Yvona.

"He has no power, you have no power, I have no power. And, for the first time in three thousand years, Ekogaru, you will have your cyborg butt soundly kicked when you let me out of this chair! Don't you think I can _fight_?"

"Gralnacz, shut her up," barked Ekogaru. The Dark Lord began to laugh for no reason. "Shut her up in the best way you know how!"

Gralnacz smiled. He walked up to Aliscea and put a knife against her throat.

"Don't kill her, you ignoramus!" snapped Ekogaru. "We still need her as a bargaining chip, and, when I regain my powers when I am repaired, she will make a great cyborg slave when she is properly broken. Greater than you two put together!"

"What do you mean?" protested Yvona.

"You failed me back there! Too busy wanting to torment your damned niece to just up and kill our enemies! And too busy raving about your lost beauty to consider anything else!"

"Lordship, I look like you, a skull! Damn that Cha'rif and his fire! I didn't know he had abilities like Aliscea's!"

Aliscea began to laugh. "Yvona, I am rubber and you are glue! What you say bounces back on you! _Bleh__!"_ Aliscea stuck her tongue out at her would-be tormentor while putting her thumb up to her nose and wiggling her fingers with a free hand.

"Damn you! I can't kill you, but I can make that hurt!" raved Yvona. The gruesomely burned cyborg staggered up to Aliscea, only to get a bare foot planted in her stomach for her trouble.

"Gralnacz! Tie her mouth shut!"

"With pleasure," said Gralnacz, who was behind Aliscea. He tied a gag over his daughter's mouth from behind while she protested and tried to scratch his glowing eyes out. "Get me another rope, Trooper! We need to tie her feet to this chair!"  
An armored trooper tossed him a rope. He began to tie her feet while squeezing the skin on her insteps to make them hurt. Then, the grotesquely burned cyborg began to run a finger up his daughter's leg with a leer in his eyes. "When I get to where I want to, you'll like it. Don't deny it!"

Aliscea struggled and screamed under her gag.

"You'll love it, Aliscea, darling…" said Gralnacz as he made his way past her knee to her thigh.

"_Stop your games_!" roared Ekogaru from the driver's seat.

"Lordship," said Gralnacz. "You said she was mine…"

"After I have her first," said Ekogaru. "Then you can have her. But I can't have her while I'm driving, so your play will have to wait."

"I'll see you later, daughter," said Gralnacz as he gave his daughter a final lewd pat. Aliscea gave him a look of utter hatred before he went away.

"How far to the ship?" demanded Ekogaru. "Gralnacz!"

"Not far. The ship is in what they call Imperial Valley, near a railroad line. If we double back through the forest, we can be there in an hour."

"Good," said Ekogaru. "Maybe going through that forest will put them off our track, huh?"

"It might," said Yvona.

* * *

**IV. HOT PURSUIT**

**The Edge of Imperial Valley**

**Planet Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1342 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

"Let's head out," said Hemsford on his Marine Landing Boat's internal speaker system.

A flight tech on the _Argo_ said, "You have permission to take off, Marine Two."

"Good," said Hemsford. "Now, let's go down there and give those Techies a royal good old butt-kickin' and then get our girl Aliscea back, huh?"

The other Marines cheered as Hemsford took off.

Soon, his boat was roaring under the _Argo's_ dark red keel, framed by the blackness and manifold stars of deep space, heading off into the unknown on Carufax.

_Wonder what the hell we'll find_, thought Hemsford as the journey continued.

* * *

On Cha'rif's armored personnel carrier, Terven banged the dashboard. "Curse this thing! The fuel's running out!"

"What?" said Captain Wildstar.

"This uses tritium for fuel, and we're about to run out of it," said Cha'rif. "We shall need to find another means of transport into Imperial Valley. It seems his space battleship has landed right near the point where your original landing boat came down with some damage"

"I have to stay with the carrier for this to be believable," said Terven. "I am sorry, but here, we part company. I'll try to hold off the others.".

"We can run," said Nova.

"And catch up with that armored personnel carrier?" said Cha'rif. "Not likely."

The armored personnel carrier came to a halt near a frame building. Cha'rif put his head up through an access hatch, followed by Wildstar.

"Well, I'll be," said Derek.

"Hmh?"

"It looks like an ancient Earth railroad station, with a steam locomotive simmering by it!"

"That'd be the local switcher," said Cha'rif. "The line goes into Imperial Valley…if any of you know how to run that sort of steam-driven monstrosity…"

Nova (who was back in her shoes) stood up on tiptoe to look. "Derek, I can drive that."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when I was little? My father took me on part of the ancient Denver and Rio Grande Western narrow gauge before the planet bombs destroyed the line forever. Part of our ride, we were in the cab of the steam locomotive together…and my dad helped run it for a bit. I think I might be able to figure out the controls if one of you guys could shovel coal into it, that is."

****

* * *

"Why don't you shovel coal into it, Nova?" asked Angie.

"I might…uh…get myself very dirty doing that. Besides, only I know how to run it. Too bad Sandor or Royster aren't here. They could figure out anything mechanical. Hope I can remember everything."

"Good luck," said Derek.

* * *

It didn't take the armed party long to tumble out of the carrier (leaving Terven behind), overwhelm the local train crew, and take over the engine and the two open wood-sided gondola cars behind it. Nova took off her shoes and coat, climbed up into the locomotive, and shoved her shoes back on again when she discovered the metal deck was quite hot. She found a set of goggles (because she knew the coal-burning boiler would produce cinders) and wrapped her red ascot around her head as a bandana while puzzling over the brass gauges and controls.

"Well?" said Derek, who had stripped to the waist for his stint as fireman of this locomotive.

"Shovel some coal into it. This big gauge with these alien markings that kind of look like numbers must be the steam pressure gauge. When you get the steam pressure up into the green, it must be ready to go."

"Right," grunted Derek.

"You'd better hurry!" yelled Cha'rif. "The Technomugar will have another engine coming down this line to pursue us."

Nova put her foot up on the back of the boiler, and felt quite a bit of heat through her pumps_. What you need to run this is a coverall and work boots_, she thought. _Not pumps and a miniskirt!_ She put on a pair of heavy, greasy gloves she found nearby in the cab and yelled back "Everyone in there?"

"Yeah," yelled Bryan Hartcliffe. Rosstowski was utterly silent.

"Then let's go!"

Nova pulled a cord, and was relieved when the whistle blew. She gave the locomotive some more water with a valve near a water sight glass, and then she released a brass handle that she thought controlled the brake. She was relieved to hear a hiss of airbrakes releasing.

She pulled back the throttle lever above her head and smiled as the engine began to chug and roll down the tracks.

Derek flicked a lever and grinned at Nova as the automatic bell began to clang. Nova smiled back and blew the whistle and then watched down the tracks as the little train gathered speed.

Rosstowski doggedly held on to one of the bench seats in the open gondola car as the train clanked, clunked, and rattled forward. He looked back._ We must be doing twenty-five kilometers an hour now, faster than that armored carrier, _he thought. _Maybe we will catch up to Aliscea after all._

"Ya like this?" said Bryan. "Ya always said ya wanted to ride behind an old steam clunker."

"Yeah. Just not on some alien planet with my wife missing or dead on a mission."

"This is fun!" giggled Angie. She took off her boots and put her bare feet up in the breeze. "_Wheeee!"_ she laughed. This is almost as much fun as flying a Tiger!"

"What is _fun_?" asked one of Cha'rif's Rikashan troopers in his dark blue armor.

"It is the same as _D'lergishnaivar_," said Cha'rif. "Sort of," he said with a smile creasing his weather-beaten face. "We really don't have a word for 'fun' in Rikashan!"

"Nova's having fun," giggled Angie as the whistle blew again.

"No, I think there's a cow on the tracks," said Rosstowski. However, Paul grinned a little for the first time in hours.

Then, he got an idea. "Hey, Nova!" he teased. "Your legs look great up against that seatbox!"

A minute later, a piece of coal flew over the coal-bunker and hit Paul in the head. "_Ouch!" _he yelled. But, he laughed, not knowing whether Derek or Nova had whipped the coal at him.

"Hey, Rosstowski!" yelled Captain Wildstar. "You do that again, and you're gonna be up here making love to this shovel."

The whistle blew again, and Angie laughed. _If this were a real joy ride, I'd have my blouse tied up under my boobs by now_, she thought. She sat there with her half-bare legs dangling over the edge of the car and added. _If we ever do this again, I have to wear shorts…and flip-flops. _

The whistle tooted as the train rumbled down the tracks. "How far?" cried Nova over the noise.

"About another ten of your kilometers, I think," said Baron Cha'rif. "Give us about half an hour. We should get there first."

"Good. We can plan a good ambush," said Derek. He looked over the coal bunker and yelled, "_Mrs. Hartcliffe!_ Put your footgear back on!"

Angie cried, "Put on your shirt, sir!"

"I will when we get there! I've given you an order! Obey it! This is a military mission, you know. If we find a steam railroad anywhere on Earth after this war, we can have a fun day trip then and then you and Nova can stop to pick flowers in your bare feet. But not _now_! Got it?"

"Yessir," said Angie. She sighed and began to pull her boots back on.

* * *

In the meantime, Hemsford's landing boat landed near the rather battered one commandeered by the Hartcliffes. It seemed the landing zone was not too far from an old shack in the Imperial Valley on the planet. The country was breathtaking, but to Hemsford, the forest looked as if it could be crawling with enemies.

"Okay, guys, _move out!"_ he barked.

"Keep low, sir," said one of them as he walked over a bare spot on the ground. "Look. That space battleship's over there, by that little lake."

"Keep your heads down!" yelled Hemsford. "And be quiet! Move out, two by two. Venture said they'd be by some railroad tracks in a few minutes."

One of Hemsford's Marines shouldered his weapon, and, whistling to himself, he scanned the ground.

"Lookit this," he said. "Footprints."

"What's that?" asked a nearby Marine. This Marine was busy scanning the sky with his electronic Macrobinoculars.

"Look at the ground, Sarge. It looks messed up."

The Sergeant stowed his binoculars, stopping to examine the ground. "Three sets of footprints. One big set…the man has boots on, far stride…a smaller pair of boots, looks like a lady, maybe, and another third set…bare feet. Small. Looks like a woman, too. Hey, Chief! Get over here!"

"I told you not to yell, you…" began Hemsford. Then, he stopped. "The damn personnel carrier. Right in front of us! Looks like they're taking our girl to that ship."

"Why do you think it'd be here?"

"Wildstar said she had almost nothing on when she was taken. Why else would some chick be walkin' barefoot over this ground?"

"So?"

"_Wallchinsky!"_ he yelled to another Corporal, a trusted friend. "Get Second squad and back me up. We're following these footprints. If we sneak up on them, we might just get Aliscea! C'mon!"

"Hey, we're gonna see a woman with her clothes falling off? Cool!" yelled another Private.

"You shut up, or you gonna see a _knuckle sandwich_!" snapped Hemsford. "Keep your traps shut and follow me. Maybe we can off the big cheese Ekogaru _himself_, bros."

"Yeah," muttered one of them. "That'd be worth the trip."

* * *

Wildstar scraped the bottom of the coal bunker on the locomotive with his shovel. "Coal's running out, Nova!"

Nova popped her head over the bunker to look at Cha'rif. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost…" he said. Then, he looked back. "Damned planet!" he yelled. "They're close to finding us! Another train's coming in the distance!"

Derek perked up his ears over the hissing and clanking of the locomotive, and he heard a distant whistle in the background. "Looks like the jig's up!" he cried. He gathered up his dirty uniform top and peacoat. "Nova! Bring us to a stop! We're gonna have to run!"

"Right," she said. The air hissed and the brakes screeched. Bryan held on to Angie as the cars clanked and rocked to a stop.

Nova threw her coat back on and then turned some valves. "We have to get off this engine! Fast!"

"Why?" yelled Rosstowski as he jumped over the side.

"I turned off the water so it'll explode and stop those guys."

"Doesn't it have a safety valve?" asked Derek.

"That won't help if the firebox sheet goes from the heat with no water," countered Nova as she climbed off the locomotive. "Or I think that's what Daddy said about these old locomotives. Derek followed her. It was a hard jump from the locomotive to the rocky ballast surface. A heel on Nova's pumps broke as she landed. Muttering a soft curse to herself, she abandoned her shoes and ran barefoot into the woods as she pulled her bandana off and put it around her neck again after discarding the goggles. Derek followed her, followed by Rosstowski and the others.

"There they are!" yelled some harsh electronic-sounding voices. "_Get them!"_

As Wildstar and Cha'rif ran, two of the Technomugar troopers broke off and began to shoot at them.

Derek fired back. Cha'rif stopped him. "Captain! Don't you know your wife has set that steam engine to explode? Run with us!"

Derek then holstered his sidearm and ran with Nova. They bounded into some underbrush and into some dirt.

Behind them, the abandoned steam locomotive hissed loudly and exploded just as the Technomugar troops from the second train began to search the gondola cars that Wildstar and the others had abandoned.

Derek shoved Nova into the underbrush as metal parts clanked around them. She then smiled at Derek, with her face covered with soot from the locomotive.

"Told you it'd work," she said. She kissed her husband.

"Nice one," replied Derek. "Thanks for the idea. It worked great!"

Cha'rif looked at them, "I sense Aliscea's spirit nearby. Come! This way!"

"Well, looks like we've almost hit pay dirt!" yelled Derek.

"Yeah," said Paul. "Looks like it."

* * *

They ran towards the center of the valley, surprising Hemsford's squads, who almost shot at them for a moment until the Marine Group Leader realized who they were.

"Hold your fire," shouted Hemsford. "It's Wildstar!"

"Aliscea's on that ship!" panted Wildstar. "Cha'rif will help us board. We're gonna assault that ship from the nearest gangplank."

"Right," said Hemsford. "How should we split up?"

"I've got a plan," said Derek. "Listen…"

* * *

Nearby, at Ekogaru's space battleship, the _Haar'ven _, Aliscea was shoved into the ship by Yvona after having been untied from her seat in the armored personnel carrier.

"You're hurting my arm!" yelled Aliscea.

"I'd love to hurt other parts of you, you tramp," smiled Yvona. "You liked what your father did, didn't you?"

"Like hell I did!"

"You love me, don't you?" said Gralnacz as he came up. "Admit it. You would rather be with me than your husband."

Aliscea backed away from the two of them into something that looked like a communications room.

A Technomugar officer sat there. She was alone with him.

Aliscea saw her chance. She chopped the startled officer hard in the side of the neck, kicked him in the crotch, and took his brass-plated weapon. Then, she grabbed him by his shirt and threw him out of the seat with strength she didn't know she had when not psionicially enhanced.

Beautiful and desperate in her rags and damper bracelet, Aliscea quickly aimed at Gralnacz as he ran into the room.

_God, forgive me,_ she thought. _This was my father. But I have to do what I must._

Gralnacz stood in shock for a moment. "You…you wouldn't…"

"I would!" snapped Aliscea.

Aliscea undid the safety and then she shot her father.

There were two shots. They went through Gralnacz's chest. Shardovan Gralnacz died screaming in pain.

Aliscea knelt near the communications chair. She looked on as smoke curled up from both her blaster and her father's corpse.

_I finally did it_, part of her thought. _Yes! My vengeance has begun!_

Aliscea shot again at Yvona. The startled Terran took a shot in the leg and a painful shot in her abdomen before she fell.

Somehow, Yvona crawled out under Aliscea's fire. She stumbled into the arms of three guards.

"Get her," she gasped before she collapsed.

"Lady Yvona!" said one Technomugar trooper.

Another one ran up to the hatch. "She's locked it. She's just trapped herself in there. I wonder what she means to gain?"

"She's crazy," said his mate.

"Yes."

* * *

_Already, I can feel the Dark Lord weakening since I killed my father,_ thought Aliscea. Then, it hit her.

It was a miracle that she could feel _anything_ psionicially with the damper bracelet on. _This must be coupled to Ekogaru_, she thought. _As his power weakens, so does the bracelet_.

Then, across the depths of space, her mother's voice came faintly to her mind. _Encourage the others to kill off more of Ekogaru's servants,_ sent her mother. _Much of the Dark Lord's power is in his servants now. If his servants are killed, behold, he loses power. And as he loses power, he becomes easier to destroy._

_Is this why you said I couldn't do this on my own, Mother?_

_Yes_, sent back Astrena. _But you have begun with, thank the One, the death of your vile father; a death you need not feel guilty about. Now, you must begin to weaken the others…._

Then, her mother's mental voice faded, and another voice came into her mind. _Aliscea!_

_Paul! Oh, Paul, I love you!_

_Our link is weak. Are you all right?_

_Getting better, Paul.__ You have to get a message to Nova._

_How? What kind of message?_

_Ekogaru is beginning to fade. To help bring him down, Nova will have to duel with her Aunt Yvona. Can you tell her that?_

_I'll try. We're in battle now._

_Thank you, Paul…_

_Now, there's the matter of this bracelet_, thought Aliscea.

* * *

"We're in!" yelled Hemsford as he and Wildstar shot down a group of Technomugar troops. They were now inside the _Haar'ven_. They were the second squad; Hemsford had sent Wallchinsky in with the others as the first squad. They hadn't reported anything so far.

"So that's what she sent to you?" demanded Derek.

Paul Rosstowski nodded. "She said Nova will have to deal with her Aunt Yvona next to hurt Ekogaru."

"Wonderful!" replied Nova. She stepped over a body, trying not to get the sticky artificial Technomugar blood on the bottoms of her bare feet. "Wish I had shoes on," she said.

"Didn't you have them before?" demanded Derek. "How can you lose parts of your uniform like that?"

"I broke a heel jumping off that train, Derek."

"You could've run without it, stupid!"

"You ever try to run in ladies' pumps with a heel missing?" snapped Nova. "No. Strike that. I hope you haven't tried to run in women's shoes. Or maybe you _should_ sometime! Anyway, stop arguing…we have to get to Aliscea and then Yvona! We have no time for this!"

"Watch your temper, Nova," said Derek.

Nova snorted. "That's a new one, coming from the cowboy of outer space himself! When do _you_ watch _your_ temper?"

"Guys, we're on a mission," said Hemsford. "Save the lovers' spat for your quarters…"

"You're aware you're talking to your commanding officer?" snapped Derek.

"Hey! There could be troops firing at us any minute!"

"Like now?" asked Bryan Hartcliffe.

Mid-argument, they were caught in a vicious new firefight. Angie ran up, screaming. "Get them, Bryan!"

"Righto!"

Bryan and Angie fired away from a bend in the corridor, joining Wildstar, Nova, Hemsford, Rosstowski, and several Marines in the firefight.

For a moment, all rivalries were forgotten as the group of fifteen men and women fired together as a unified squad against the Technomugar Marines who were trying to repel the boarders.

Finally, the smoke cleared for a moment. Twenty-two Technomugar troops were dead, but klaxons were going off. Rosstowski thought he could hear the tread of running feet on the deck above them.

_There's more coming,_ he thought. _We'd better get ourselves together._

"I hear more of them!" cried Nova.

"Great job…you back me up, Lieutenant," said Derek.

"Yessir. We'll resume our conversation later, Derek!"

"Hemsford, get your Marines on that side of the passage. We've got this side by the hatch," said Captain Wildstar. "Truce on the personal crap?" he added towards his wife as they took cover in a doorway off to the side of the corridor.

"We have more to discuss later! Take back your comments, Derek!" yelled Nova.

"You still wanna argue?"

"Not now. We'll take it up later! Remember, we're…"

"Captain and crewperson right now. Right," said Derek.

"Here they come!" Nova then backed up her husband by firing at the enemy troopers along with him as they came.

"Okay! I take it back!" yelled Wildstar.

"Why now?"

"We might be dead soon, Nova!"

"Good reason."

"Get them!" yelled a guard.

The enemy began to fire like crazy. Derek yelped as a bolt of energy grazed his right hand, but he kept on firing.

"Derek!" cried Nova. She yelled at the guards. "Don't you _dare _kill him!"

"Why not, Terranisch creep?" they mocked back.

"Because _I_ was about to do it before you showed up!"

The guards looked very puzzled.

"Not literally!" yelled Derek. "You pea-brains know nothing about marital spats, do you?"

"We do not bother with marriage ceremonies. When we see a desirable woman, we just take what we want. Like you, you filth! Behold, you are going straight back to Ekogaru, dead or alive!" yelled an officer as he fired at Derek. Captain Wildstar yelled again as his hair was singed and he fell back against the closed hatch.

"_Derek!"_ screamed Nova as he fell.

"I'm all right, damnit! Just singed hair!"

"Good. You've got enough of it!"

Derek then looked up at his wife. "Truce?"

"Good," said Nova. "_Truce!_ Not that it matters much when we might be _dead_ in the next minute!" she cried.

They both fired like crazy around the doorway, just barely avoiding enemy fire as it skipped in.

"Hit that button," yelled Baron Cha'rif as he ran up, firing his weapon to help out.

"Which one?" muttered Derek.

"The _green_ one, Derek!" said Nova. "Use your head for something other than a hat rack!"

"Yeah, that one," said Derek as he and Nova had to fire again as pink bolts whizzed all around them.

He hit the button. Nova leaped through the door first, followed by Derek. He let the others run through, and then he ducked back out in the corridor, gave the Technomugar a defiant finger, and chucked a grenade given to him by a Space Marine. Then, Derek used his weapon to blow up the console controlling the door, rolling in just before it closed.

As he rolled, his face smacked right into Nova's toes on her right foot. She giggled at that. "You don't have to kiss my feet here, silly!"

"Your pedicure's getting chipped."

"Good. You're fixing it later, Derek. If we live through this, that is."

"We may not," said Cha'rif. "Look!"

More guards ran up. Derek dragged Nova back by the wrist and shoved her into another doorway. He fired again and again, gritting his teeth as he fired and as Nova fired over his shoulder, almost standing on his back to do so.

Both of them leaned in against the hatch to let Rosstowski take cover with them.

In another room, a wicked light shone in Yvona Josiah's eyes as a surgeon finished putting new plastiskin on her face. "Good," she said, running over to a computer console. "Now, let's give you two lovebirds a little ride!"

Yvona smirked, pressing a button.

Behind Derek and Nova, the hatch opened. They yelled, being thrown off balance when the door opened, since they had been leaning on it. Before they could recover, a moving belt grabbed their feet and flung them down the hatch into a black chute.

"Wildstar! Nova!" yelled Rosstowski as the two of them tumbled off into darkness, going head over heels down the chute. "Crap! We've lost them!"

"Go in after 'em!" yelled Hemsford.

Rosstowski tried to jump in, but the hatch slammed shut in his face.

"Damnit!" he yelled, banging on the hatch.

"That will do no good," said Baron Cha'rif. "Give me time, would you? Remember, I know something about these ships!"

"Get to it, bloke," said Bryan Hartcliffe. "But hurry. We don't, like, have much time?"

"Now what do we do?" said Hemsford.

"Pray?" said Rosstowski.

"Yes, but we act, too," said Cha'rif.

* * *

"Ladyship," said a trooper, who was gazing at a computer screen near Yvona. "We've got the fish you wanted."

"Trooper!" snapped Yvona. "Tell His Lordship I have them. I will send my guards down there to help me retrieve them."

"I thought you wanted them for yourself."

"I do," said Yvona. "But, my girls will help me out a bit. They'll make sure they're herded right into my trap."

"What about Aliscea?"

"She will take care of herself, no doubt," said Yvona.

Then, Ekogaru's voice boomed throughout the ship. "All hands! This is Your Lordship! Prepare for liftoff and docking with the Fortress. In half an hour, after I judge and destroy Carufax, I shall be looking at my ancient homeworld again, with the Star Force and her ship and these treasonous Rikashans taken with me, caught up like fish in the Warp Field of the Grand Fortress! Yes. We are heading back to Rikasha herself! Very soon, my Great Second Advent will begin! When I stand in my Temple on Rikasha, appearing at last, I shall received the worship I crave! Then, I shall truly feel like a God! _Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"_

_"Now?"_ whispered an officer in the shadows at the aft part of the Technomugar space battleship's bridge.

"Not yet," whispered Vergar. "It is not the time, yet. But it must be soon. As you can hear, he is skirting the very _edge_ of madness."

* * *

**_To Be Continued With Act Four: "…The Sweet Smell of a Sacrifice." _**

* * *

**_THERE ARE NOW 30 DAYS TO THE ARRIVAL OF EKOGARU IN EARTH'S SOLAR SYSTEM_**


	4. Chapter 4

**ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE**

**STAR BLAZERS****---****A WOUND (LIKE A KNIFE TO THE HEART)**

* * *

**Being the ninth part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz**

* * *

**ACT FOUR …THE SWEET SMELL OF A SACRIFICE**

* * *

**I. A DESPERATE OFFENSE…**

**Space Battleship _Argo_**

**In Orbit Over Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1403 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

Commander Mark Venture was now back on the _Argo's_ First Bridge.

"The Technomugar Fortress is beginning to turn its most heavily illuminated portion towards Carufax, sir."

"Thank you, Mrs. Voorhees. What's the range?" asked Venture as he looked forward to the Cosmo Radar, where Becky was sitting. Venture was back at the Captain's station again. Eager currently had the helm.

"Three thousand megameters and closing."

"That thing's too damn close for comfort!" cried Eager.

"You're right. If it gets much closer, there'll be earthquakes down there on that planet from the tidal effects upon the crust," said Sandor.

"Damn!" said Mark. "Wildstar and the others are still _down_ there. Homer? Any word from Hemsford?"

"I'm getting something now," said Homer. "He says he's just joined up with the Captain. They're boarding a Technomugar space battleship that's landed on the surface. According to Cha'rif, Aliscea's on that ship. They think they can get in there and get her, Venture."

"Good," said Mark, who breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, we're getting a bit closer to accomplishing our goal," said Dash. "When they have Aliscea off the ship, and when Wildstar gets back with that information he says he has, we'll be much better set to fight that…_thing_ out there."

"Yes," said Venture.

Becky then cried out. "Ter'garv's ship is charging the Fortress!"

"What?" said Venture.

"I'm getting a signal from Ter'garv," said Homer.

The interior of the _B'eoneraze's_ bridge came out on the _Argo's_ main screen. Ter'garv sat there smiling.

"Commander Venture. I'm going to stop him from using his Phased Density Cannon against Carufax."

"How?"

"You'll see. It will be quite obvious. I have said my good-byes to Cha'rif already when he contacted me psionicially. Give the same to Wildstar when you see him. He was a great ally. Goodbye!"

Then, it was obvious what Ter'garv was doing as his space battleship blasted towards a glowing protrusion on the Fortress, ignoring all of the green fire that emerged from other gun ports on the Fortress. The fire tore up the _B'eoneraze_ as she came, but Ter'garv ignored the shredding of his own ship. "_Ter'garv!" _cried Venture.

The old bearded man just smiled and saluted on a bridge that was filling up with fire. A moment later, the _Argo's_ main screen was covered with a blaze of white light as the _B'eoneraze_ rammed the Technomugar Fortress' greatest weapon.

Outside, there was a great explosion as the _Argo's_ main screen went dark. Then, there was silence as the Technomugar Fortress sat there with some of her multicolored lights extinguished and a huge stream of smoke pouring out of the barrel of the Phased Density Cannon.

"Now that's more like it," said Venture with a smile. "Dash, how many weapons do we have left?"

"Not a lot."

"Well, do you think you can prepare an attack on that Fortress?"

"Yes, mostly with torpedoes and missiles to start with…"

"Go for it," said Venture.

At that, the _Argo_ began to turn.

* * *

**II. ALISCEA'S STAND…AND YVONA'S MADNESS **

**Carufax**

**Inside Ekogaru's Space Battleship**

**In Orbit Over Carufax**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1441 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

Aliscea Rosstowski cried out in pain. Her physical efforts to get the damper bracelet off were burning her hands, and the mental efforts were so intense that it was making her nose bleed.

She gasped again, ignoring the continuing flow of blood onto her chest as she worked the clasp on the damper bracelet.

Suddenly, the jewels went dark and she was able to work the clasp. It finally opened!

Aliscea shrugged the bracelet off, and stood on her toes as she drew in a great, gasping breath of relief. _Good,_ she thought as she stood on the deck, letting the coolness of the metal deck wash up her from the soles of her bare feet upwards as her power began to rush back to life inside her soul. _I don't feel Ekogaru now. I wonder what in blazes has happened to him? No matter. _

She found a drinking water tap in the communications room, and washed herself clean of her own blood after she psionicially stopped the nosebleed. _Paul?_ She sent.

_Yes?_ Came the reply.

_I'm free now. _

_Are those guards still there?_

_Yes, the idiots are still hammering at the hatch. Correction…they're trying to break in. I guess they think I'm helpless because I'm armed only with a little blaster. Anyway, I'm putting a plan of this place in your mind. Follow it, and you can meet me. Then, I can find Ekogaru, dispatch him, and we can find Derek and Nova and get off this ship._

_What about Nova and Yvona?_

_Nova can take care of herself. We'll all be together soon…_

_But we're heading towards the Fortress!_

_So?__ Size matters not. If I get Ekogaru, his Fortress becomes space junk. _

In the room, the armored hatch began to glow red.

_They're ready to start the party now, Paul. See you later._

_Aliscea?_

She smiled as she cut contact. Then, she spit into her hands, rubbed them together…

…and waited for the Technomugar soldiers to try to come and get her…

* * *

Ekogaru the Great continued to rant.

"My time has come!" he yelled. "Now, we are about to dock with the Fortress…and…"

Then, his cyborg jaw fell open. An explosion came on the Fortress.

"What has happened?" he demanded.

A crewman said, "Sir, the Phased Density Cannon has been disabled. We were in power-up mode, as you ordered, but a Rikashan space battleship rammed it. We can't fire now!"

"All right, let's use our weapons to fry Carufax's surface! We can do it and kill all of them!"

"Yessir."

"When we finish the massacre, we will warp to Rikasha. Make the warp field strong enough to pull the enemy ships there along with us in our wake. Then we'll take them all captive and then crucify and torment them. Got it?"

"Of course."

A huge landing bay opened. It was one of the thousands of bays on the Grand Fortress. Ekogaru's space battleship began to dock with his Fortress a moment later.

"I am home!" ranted Ekogaru. "Yes, I am here, and I am the undisputed Lord of…"

"Are you?" asked Vergar. Vergar abruptly stood up with a blaster in his hand.

"What?" said Ekogaru.

"Have this, Ekogaru! You have destroyed our ideals in your madness!"

Then, Ekogaru took a shot in his chest.

"SCUM!" roared Ekogaru as he staggered around. Before Vergar could shoot again, Ekogaru raised his hands. Green fire blasted forth from them, catching Vergar straight in the head. His old servant died screaming as he burned.

The dying Ekogaru then picked up his blaster and pointed two blasters at his crew. "Get him out of here! Bring medics! I will soon collapse into a healing trance. In the meantime, inform General Hallander that he will run the Empire in my stead until I recover! I can trust him! And have this traitor's corpse fully burned! I…I…"

At that, the Dark Lord collapsed. Before unconsciousness came, he managed to slow down his cyborg functions just enough so that he could be kept alive in a trance until he was repaired. Then, his black consciousness winked out.

Unknown to him, as he passed out, the Fortress' weapons systems began to shut down one by one. He and his men were unaware of this at the moment, though. The ship landed, clanking to in the bay's docking claws.

A moment later, Ekogaru was cast onto a floating litter, and in a quick procession, he and his bridge crew left the battleship, disappearing into the bowels of the Fortress.

* * *

"Nova? _Nova_?"

"Oh, Derek, my head!"

"I wonder where we are?"

"Not sure. It's awful dark in here…"

A moment later, a number of red lights came on. Nova and Derek could then see that they were in a strange, round room with shiny black metal walls. It was very cold. Far above them, a hatch hissed open, exposing a huge, round viewport. Lights and support pillars could be seen outside. Then, Nova looked up and felt like weeping. "Derek! I think I know where this ship is…where we are!"

"Where?"

"The Fortress…we're inside it," she said, feeling utter despair. "Do you think there's a way out?"

"If only I could read those plans in my jacket pocket…"

A hatch hissed open, and Yvona Josiah walked in, followed by a number of guards.

"Don't let her know you have those plans…" whispered Nova.

Derek nodded.

"Where am I?" Nova gasped out loud.

"In my house," the grotesque-looking semi-repaired Yvona replied. Half of her face looked normal, while half of it looked like a metallic skull partly covered with natural and artificial wires, blood vessels, tendons, and nerves. Exposed machinery mixed with living flesh in a gruesome combination. Yvona now looked like something from a bad horror movie. "Do you two like it?"

"We hate it!" said Derek. "Along with you!"

He pulled his blaster and fired. Yvona made the beam bounce back…it hit him in the arm, making him cry out.

"Derek!" cried Nova. She held him as he moaned. Then, Yvona put her hand on his head…

…and he began to scream…

"Stop doing that to him!" screamed Nova.

Yvona kept her hand on Derek's head. She smiled and sat down beside Nova, who was half-sitting, half-lying on the cold, cold stone floor of the ship. She glared at Nova with her one "natural" eye and her robotic gleaming red mechanical eye as she said, "As you guessed, you are in the Technomugar Fortress now. Welcome to your new home; not your house, not the _Argo_, but the edge of Joy Suite Number Sixty-Six. You're outside it. You will be tortured, tormented, and broken, just like we've done to Aliscea Rosstowski and some of your other friends from Earth. We will break you. Every smidgen of love for your Japanese Captain will be burned from your psyche as we torture you, and every smidgen of love he has for you shall likewise be burned out. Then, when you kiss the feet of Ekogaru and worship Him as your new God, we will make you anew in our image. You will become immortal, and a vassal of Ekogaru the Great forever. Then, you will help me rule over your dear planet Earth as my absolute toady and slave!"

"No I won't!" cried Nova as twelve guards bodily picked her and Derek up and she kicked unashamed like a small but very wild animal fighting its way out of a trap...to try to return to her mate. "I have work to do! I have to get back with my Derek and care for him!"

"No you won't," said Yvona.

"Like hell I won't. I'll fight you!"

"Me too!" roared Captain Wildstar as Yvona took his cosmo-gun and gave it to one of her guards. "We'll get you if it's the last thing we do!"

"You sound so brave, my dears." She took her hand off Derek's head. Then, she smiled and thought, _It__ is almost time. I will deal with you, and then release my almost fully-grown clone child and take her healthy brain. The download is continuing. Then, with her dead and her healthy parts inside me, I will deal with Ekogaru last of all, and make you bow before me. I wonder where Ekogaru is? Some god he makes; can't even feel his presence!_

* * *

The door to Aliscea's prison blew open. Immediately, the Technomugar guards advanced.

They advanced into a holocaust, screaming as flame consumed trooper after trooper.

A second ball of fire consumed an officer, and Aliscea, enjoying her special protection from fire, ran unscathed through the flames. Soon, the few surviving troopers fired at Yvona's backside as she ran on.

The young woman smiled, and made a curtain of green energy appear between herself and her would-be tormentors. The troopers fired anyway, and they merely succeeded in shooting themselves.

Aliscea blew a raspberry at the few surviving enemies, and then she ran away with barefoot grace.

_Now, I just have to find Paul,_ she thought.

* * *

The _Argo_ and the remaining ships of Cha'rif's fleet regrouped and began to fire upon the Grand Fortress. Finally, Venture smiled for the first time in hours as missile after missile from the _Argo_ and energy bolt after energy bolt from the Rikashan ships battered the Fortress.

"Hey! We're actually damaging that thing now!" laughed Dash. "Do you think we can end it here? Why'd they stop firing?"

"I don't know," said Venture.

"Hey! We got another hit!" laughed Nishina.

"There's some kind of energy buildup taking place on the Fortress," said Sandor.

"Do you know what's happening?"

"No, Venture."

"Oh, _great!_"

* * *

On the Fortress, Captain Derek Wildstar huffed and puffed in his physical agony.

"Awww...is baby's diaper wet?" asked Yvona. "Let him go, people. I want to strike him."

They shoved Captain Wildstar to the deck. Derek immediately snarled like an animal and pounced on Yvona like a wildcat

Yvona wasn't expecting this. She was utterly shocked by the young man's fierce bravery. The two of them fought and grappled like wild animals. The guards were startled because they hadn't expected such resistance from an unarmed human.

Nova desperately tried to break free to help her husband, but she didn't have the strength to do so. More guards came, and she felt the bite of a needle in her thigh. She went limp.

"What did you do to her?" roared Derek as he saw Nova fall into a state of utter helplessness. He forced his way up and put his hands around Yvona's neck. "Free her, or, I swear, I'll break Yvona's _neck_!"

A large guard came up behind Captain Wildstar, putting a blaster into his neck. "Give up or I'll shoot you!"

Derek then realized he could do no more for Nova. "Go," he mouthed.

"I can't," she moaned. "I can't move anything!"

"Go," whispered Derek. "Leave me!"

Then, a moment later, another set of doors burst open. Laser fire filled the compartment as Hemsford, his remaining Marines, Cha'rif, Rosstowski, and the Hartcliffes rushed in.

A new, fierce firefight ensued as Technomugar guards fought Terrans. Hemsford felled several of them with his weapon, backed up by Wallchinsky and some of his other men.

Paul Rosstowski cut down two Technomugar guards with his weapon and then he rushed at Yvona. He was cut down a moment later as Yvona caused fire to shoot from her hands. He fell down with his chest on fire, but he rolled on the deck to put the horrible blaze out.

Baron Cha'rif and Yvona Josiah squared off. Yvona threw her black peacoat open, and discarded her belts. She then clasped her coat closed at the neck with a chain and pulled one arm out of the sleeve to give her more freedom of movement. Then, she got her hands on a long laser cutlass that Derek thought was like Captain Harlock's…while Cha'rif fought back with his scimitar, disdaining the similar cutlass at his side.

Everyone stopped fighting as the tall Rikashan fought the evil cyborgized Terran. Both warriors were in black, so they both looked sinister even though Baron Cha'rif was on the side of Good. Their swords rang and clashed as they dueled, with Cha'rif fighting off Yvona's strikes. He parried, and thrust back on his own with his great sword, hissing and snarling as he went on the offensive. A strike tore Yvona's black peacoat, but she jumped back and fought on.

In Derek's arms in the dark room, Nova felt utter nausea as her body tried to fight off the strange medication. What was worse was noticing that Yvona was fought in _her_ clothes under the black peacoat she wore…the pink short romper set and pink boots Yvona had on had literally been stolen from right out of Nova's house by Yvona a few weeks beforehand in a raid upon Earth.

Nova drooled helplessly as she lay in Derek's arms. "What's going to happen to us?"

"I don't know."

"I hope he beats her. Or, if not, I hope that God gives me a chance to fight her, Derek."

"Don't talk like that."

"I want to defeat her…I want to defeat her so bad!" said Nova.

"You and me both…you and me both…"

Then, everything around them turned bizarre. Lights turned into blurs, and the world seemed to tilt and go insane.

A roar filled everyone's ears…both cyborgs and humans fell into helplessness alike as the Fortress spiraled into a space warp.

_We're warping? Where are we going?_ _What is going on?_ Captain Wildstar thought before normal, conscious thought deserted him…

* * *

**III. YVONA AND NOVA**

**Inside the Technomugar Fortress**

**In Orbit Over Planet Rikasha**

**April 11, 2202 **

**1602 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

"Get up," hissed Yvona Josiah as she poked the end of her sword into Derek Wildstar's side after some time passed. "Get _up_, I said!"

Derek just moaned. He was nauseated and weak from the sudden space warp. "Where…are…we?"

Yvona smiled. "Over Rikasha," she said.

"Where's Nova?"

"I'll deal with her in a minute," said Yvona. Derek raised his head and observed Yvona kicking Nova. "She's still sort of out of it. Men, pick her up!"

Two guards grabbed Nova and hauled her to her feet. She moaned, looking around as other guards herded Rosstowski, Hemsford, and the others into a circle.

"They're all outside of the battleship now, Lady," said an officer. A few Rikashans and R'Khells appeared.

Baron Cha'rif lay half in a daze as he was thrown to the deck. _They sure got here fast,_ he thought. _Now, I know where we are. We're home. We're over Rikasha herself. Gods forgive us…this vile war machine is now polluting the very skies of my mother planet!_

"Where are we?" demanded Paul Rosstowski.

Not far away, Cha'rif crawled to Nova.

"What are you doing?"

"Counteracting that drug," he said as he grabbed her hand for a moment. Then, after two heartbeats, Nova stood again. She felt much better. She called out, "Yvona, where the hell have you taken us? This is the Fortress, isn't it? Where are we?"

"We are over Rikasha, on the Grand Fortress. The Grand Fortress that I know you carry the plans for, Captain Wildstar! But you are in no position to make demands," barked Yvona.

"Really?" hissed Paul.

"Really. Guards, kill them one by one until they surrender," ordered Yvona.

Wallchinsky was thrown out in front of the group first. He was shot through the heart by a Technomugar guard.

"NOOO!" screamed Angie Hartcliffe.

"You next," said Yvona.

Three guards pulled Bryan and Angie apart as they gazed at each other with pain in their eyes.

_NO!_ thought Bryan. _I'll never see her again! What a way for this t' end! _He struggled, but the guards were too strong.

The guards made Angie kneel. One of them put a blaster at the back of her neck.

Yvona smiled and slashed at Derek's head with her saber.

Nova screamed as a freshet of blood came from her husband's head…and his right ear came off and hit the deck.

Derek put his hand to his head and lay there moaning.

Nova weakly kicked at a guard, and then, she remembered an _Aikido_ move as one of the armored men punched at her. The guard fell, tripped by his own attack being turned against him.

Nova tripped the other guard and distracted Yvona from Angie's impending execution by running to Derek's side. She tore part of her scarf off and said, "Derek…darling…"

"Nova…that hurts…it hurts so much."

"I'm putting this around your head to staunch the bleeding. Wish I could just take the pain away, my darling. At least I can stop the bleeding. Hold still."

"Are we gonna get out of this?" said Derek.

Nova nodded. "We will. There's a sword over there on the deck…by Cha'rif. After I fix you up…I'm going for it."

"Who are you going after?"

"_Her!_ She hurt you!"

"Nova…that's.."

"Suicide?" Maybe. But you can get to the ship with those plans. Try to get everyone out of here while I distract her."

"Nova…I…"

"You don't have any choice," she whispered. He was bound up. She tenderly kissed him. "Goodbye, Derek. If I die, please remember me well…"

"Nova…_tenshi…_" said Derek, grasping her wrist.

With tears running down her cheek, Nova pried his hand free and whispered, "I love you." Then, she kissed him for a last time and ran off.

"Hey!" yelled Yvona. "Get her!"

The guards turned away from Angie as Nova bounded over to the half-conscious Baron Cha'rif. He lay on the deck with blood streaming from his head.

"Excuse me," Nova whispered.

Cha'rif nodded.

She ignored his heavy scimitar and took a laser dueling saber from a scabbard on the Baron's side under his black cape. Then, Nova bounded up and ran towards Yvona. But, hesitation appeared in her mind as Yvona smiled at her.

_You'll be killing your aunt,_ said a voice in her head. _You will be guilty of murdering a relative._

Yvona just grinned at that.

Nova started a little as Baron Cha'rif snapped her a salute and vanished.

"Huh?" she said.

_Go on, Nova,_ said Cha'rif's voice in his head_. I have returned to the lead surviving space battleship of my Fleet. Now, finish this. Finish her, and then escape with Aliscea. She is coming, but you must weaken Ekogaru…by finishing your aunt._

_But I can't,_ thought Nova. _She's my mother's sister!_

_You have to,_ said Aliscea's voice in her head.

_It's the only chance for Derek,_ added Astrena's voice.

Then, to her surprise, she heard Desslok's voice in her head. _Thanks to Astrena, I can speak to you for a moment. We shall soon be coming. But Ekogaru must be weakened now. Are you up to it?_

"Yes," whispered Nova softly. A tear ran down her cheek. _This was my Aunt but…_

"Yes, Desslok, I am up to it!" cried Nova.

"Desslok?" moaned Derek in confusion.

Then, Nova looked at Derek moaning in pain and holding his ear.

_She's hurt the love of my life! Now, she is my aunt no more! I have sworn to stop Earth's enemies, so, now, I shall do so. I must carry out my oath._

"C'mon, Yvona!" yelled Nova. "Let's _finish this_! I hate you and everything you've _done!_"

"You'll burn in Hell if you kill me," said Yvona. "I was that voice in your head. Do you not have a conscience, you fool?"

"So?" said Nova. "I'd rather burn in Hell than see my husband and planet die at your hands! Let's _go_!"

The others defied their guards and applauded. Terran cheers filled the Fortress for a moment until the guards swung their weapons towards their enemies to shut them up.

Ignoring the cold of the dark, eerie chamber inside the Technomugar Fortress, Nova swung at her aunt with her sword. Thus, the duel began. Nova was very grateful at this moment that Derek had taught her how to handle a sword.

Yvona put up her sword to parry Nova's blow. "Do you want a fight?" the cyborg tyrant screamed.

"What does it look like?" asked Nova as she jumped away with barefoot grace. _Good, I have a little advantage. No shoes on means I can grip this slippery deck better_, _like in a dojo,_ she thought. Nova thrust at Yvona, her strike stopped by Yvona's sword.

"Kill her!" yelled a Technomugar officer as he watched the two opponents, one in white, the other in black and pink. Yvona was grotesque and looked like a dead thing, while Nova looked like a pretty, desperate flower with a steel backbone.

"No! We'll hit Lady Yvona! Ekogaru won't like that!"

"What do we do?"

"Stand ready!" said another guard.

Derek sat up. Pain resounded through his head, but he smiled as Nova gracefully stood up on her toes and danced around behind a console to avoid Yvona's rage-filled attack.

Yvona swung, screaming like a banshee.

Nova smiled, fighting on in grim silence and defiance. She skipped over a laser bolt that Yvona fired at her as if she was jumping over a jump rope.

Then, Nova swung at Yvona's neck. Yvona just barely parried the shot on time, but the edge of Nova's saber whipped against one of Yvona's partially exposed arms. The cyborg screamed as pinkish blood welled from her arm.

"You hurt me!"

"I'll do worse before this is over! OUCH!" cried Nova as Yvona's sword slashed one of her thighs. She skipped back in time to keep the damage from being any worse…but now, both women had drawn first blood.

Nova savagely thrust again, knocking Yvona off balance. In her bare feet, Nova landed nimbly like a gymnast.

On the other hand, Yvona just barely managed to keep her feet in the high-heeled boots she wore. Then, to Nova's frustration, she danced away up onto another operations panel, just out of Nova's reach.

Nova fired at her with the cutlass' laser trigger. The cyborg just barely avoided Nova's fire, but she looked trapped.

_Good girl,_ _Nova_. he thought. _Use everything I taught you. Use every ounce of skill you have, darling. Because this can't stop until she's finally dead! God, let Nova get her! And then…let us come through this alive...and together!_

While everyone else was occupied, Derek began to crawl towards the nearest cosmo-gun, with a grim, grim smile on his face.

* * *

"Any idea where we are?" asked Eager as he sat up on the bridge of the _Argo_.

"None," said Sandor as he and Venture looked at the navigational charts at Mark's usual post at the helm. "All I know is that we're somewhere around the other side of the Milky Way now. I have no idea where we are at all! This is uncharted space to us."

"But not to _us_," said a voice over the _Argo's_ speakers.

"Huh?" said Homer. "Uh…a signal's coming in…and my radio's going on…"

A moment later, Baron Cha'rif's image appeared on the _Argo's_ main screen.

"Baron!" said Venture. "Do you have the others with you?"

"No. They're still on the Fortress. I couldn't bring them with the power I have…I'm…I'm wounded. But I have called to other _R'jkharraz_ of my Order. They understand the situation and will rescue your shipmates…as soon as Yvona is defeated. If Yvona is defeated, Ekogaru is weakened further. I will give you sanctuary below on that planet until you can make repairs and head to Earth. Change is coming."

"Where are we?" asked Sandor. "That planet below doesn't look inviting. It looks like…a desert hell down there. Hardly any water. It looks like Earth…when the Gamilons attacked it!"

"It is a hell. But it is my home," said Cha'rif. "We are over Rikasha itself now. The capital of my Empire."

The crew gasped at that. "Baron! Won't your people attack us?"

"They might. But, on the bridge of my new flagship, the _H'eoneraze_, I have already sent an appeal to my father and to the _R'Jkharraz_ order of psionic soldiers for aid. Father has agreed to place you under his protection. With that protection, no one will attack you, except perhaps the R'Khell priests with their red ships. They are the worst of the worst of my people. Almost no one else on Rikasha loves their tyranny and utter hatred."

"Yes, I know that," said Venture. "I was told that they did the worst of the carnage when they attacked the _Westhampton Beach_ some months ago."

"They are in the service of Ekogaru. I am sorry I ever worked with them. They are, indeed, fanatics. Fanatics we intend to put an end to, my father and I."

"How?" said Venture.

"I can openly discuss this now, even here. My father is requesting a meeting of the Rikashan Council of Dukes. He is requesting an end to our Lord Zaden's government, and an end to the _Ji'had_ against your people."

"Will they listen to you?"

"They will…when I tell them about Carufax…when they hear of the atrocities Ekogaru has wrought even upon our own people…he was just _using_ us, the bastard!"

Venture nodded. "Good luck, Baron. As for the Fortress?"

"If we can, perhaps we should attack as soon as you can repair your wave motion gun…and as soon as Aliscea is back with you, and your Captain. Can you commence repairs now?"

"We'll do our best," said Sandor.

* * *

On the Fortress, the duel between Yvona and Nova continued.

Their swords clashed again as both women faced each other. Yvona had managed to somersault over Nova's head, and she had viciously slashed the back of Nova's bare thighs. But, the young woman fought on, ignoring the burning pain in her legs.

The fight went on as Yvona jumped up onto one of the consoles, skidding again in her un-needed heels. Nova fired at her as she landed, but the beam only grazed her arm.

"You're _slow_, Nova! You're beaten!" yelled Yvona as she slashed at Nova's head. Nova ducked, but she gasped as the edge of the blade cut her scalp. Nova put a hand to her head and looked at the blood.

Yvona smiled and thrust a killing stroke at Nova's heart. Nova got her sword up in time to deflect it with a hard swat.

Then, Yvona kicked at Nova's wrist. Nova cried out as she lost her hold on her sword.

Yvona shot at Nova, but Nova dodged. Then, Yvona grabbed her niece by the ankles and pulled her off the console.

Nova fell on top of Yvona, knocking the sword out of her hand. Yvona panicked, going stock-still with wide, frightened eyes for a moment as Nova bared her teeth like a wild woman and punched her aunt in the head.

"_Yeah!_ Kick her butt, luv!" yelled Bryan Hartcliffe as Derek got his cosmo-gun back, With a shaking hand, Captain Wildstar drew a bead on Yvona's head. Then, he fired.

Somehow, Yvona used her powers to call her sword back to her hand. Then, with lightning speed, she got her sword up and deflected the beam. She fired at Derek, but then, Nova was on top of her.

Nova's fist slammed into Yvona's mouth, causing pink blood to flow everywhere. "You POND SCUM!" yelled Yvona through smashed cyborg teeth.

Yvona punched her niece in the mouth, loosening a tooth that had been knocked out some months ago. Now, Nova's mouth was bleeding, and she was in worse pain than ever. But, she fought on. She got her hand on Yvona's wrist and then, both women struggled as Nova slowly forced Yvona's hand to the deck. Then, Nova leaned hard against the wrist with one hand, and pulled Yvona's cruel sword out of her hand with the other hand, ignoring the pain as the saber slashed the palm of her hand wide open when she grabbed it.

"What's burning?" muttered Yvona as she looked up at a great light and heard the rolling scream of a strong, high female voice in a sort of war cry.

"Aliscea!" cried Paul. He put up his hands in a cheer as she began to dispatch the guards, one by one. Then, Paul blanched as he saw six Technomugar walking behind her.

"Huh?" said Hemsford.

"We're defecting to the Rikashans," said one of them. "We're your ride out of here, people. A shuttle is ready."

"Great!" yelled Bryan. "Hey, Wildstars! We're outta here!"

But, Derek didn't hear him, and neither did Nova. Their attention was focused on the death-struggle in the cul-de-sac of the huge docking bay.

"What?" yelled Yvona. "Guards! GUARDS!"

"You can't distract me, Yvona," huffed Nova. "Not now. Not now that I've got you."

"You've got me?"

"Right…where…I want you," said Nova as she flipped the sword around and then put its point against Yvona's forehead.

"huh?" said Yvona. Then, the gravity of the situation came to her as cheers resounded in the distance. The barrel was against her head!

_Ekogaru! Lord! Help me!_ Yvona thought. But, no answer came to her, and none could. Ekogaru lay unconscious in surgery, and, so far, General Hollander was unaware of the duel. None of the guards had bothered to call the main bridge of the Fortress.

_Clone! Clone of myself! Help me! My niece is about to murder me!_

In her cocoon, the clone of Yvona awoke. _No,_ she sent back to Yvona. _I will not help you, Mother._

_Why not?_

_You are outmoded,_ thought the clone. _I am the new model of you. Thank you for your thoughts, you sickness. Someday, I will use them…for my purposes!_

Then, there was only silence as Yvona begged the clone and Ekogaru to answer her. She was now cornered, and in Nova's power at last. Years of abuse were about to be dealt with…and now. _Why do you not answer me?_ Yvona thought as she saw Nova stand. She looked up her niece's form from her dirty feet, up her bleeding legs, and up her dirty and bloody uniform. She met her niece's face, and saw sadness but angry resolve in her dark eyes. Yvona looked up towards the heavens, and said, in her heart, as motors whirred by one side of her mechanical jaw… _God! Why do you not answer me? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?_

_I have not forsaken you…you have never known Me,_ came a thought deep in her mind.

"What?" whispered Yvona. "God, why? I need my bacon pulled out of the fire! I did nothing wrong! Help me, Nova! HELP ME! You have to help me! I'm a sick woman!"

"You sure are, and it's too late," whispered Nova. "Goodbye, Auntie Yvona. I am now putting you in the hands of Almighty God."

Nova closed her eyes and fired.

The back of Yvona's head exploded in flames and her life quickly bled away, her consciousness fading into a black pit somewhere in a silent scream. The last thing she sensed before her soul faded altogether from this plane was flames, flames waiting for her, flames swallowing her up. Then, the last of the synapses in her head shut down, and the light in Yvona Josiah's eyes faded as her cyborg systems shut down…permanently, and she fell all the way down into the Pit long prepared for her. From that point on, her fate came no more into this tale.

However, somewhere in the deep darkness of the Joy Suite, something slowly opened up the clone tank that had been receiving an upload, a copy, as it were, of the memories and thoughts of Yvona, Ekogaru's masterpiece. It was Yvona's twisted clone. It was cold, it was vile, and it took up where the just-killed Yvona had left off.

_I am only human_, it thought. _At least I think I am human_. _I am no cyborg. But, I live. Or mother's memories live. Not even HE knew of this. I planned it myself. I have replaced "mother", that sickness. But, she was past her time. It was a mercy killing. But, bear in mind…I will return, better than her, and more effective. Yes. I will again return. And, I will have my vengeance upon all of you for my creation! All of you!_

And, in the Depths of the Fortress, it laughed.

In the meantime, Nova felt her Aunt's neck for the pulse. "She's dead," she muttered. "God, I don't know whether to thank You, or to curse You."

In silence, Nova threw aside her saber as tears ran from her eyes. Flames exploded in the background, she didn't know why.

_Maybe it's a glimpse of the Hell to which I'm condemned for killing Aunt Yvona_, Nova thought. _But, so what?__ I did a good thing,_ _killing that woman…_

Derek staggered up, hugging her in silence as they literally fell bleeding into each other's arms. Fire and flame raged behind them.

"I'm so weak," muttered Nova. "Feel like I can't…stand up. Pain in my chest…"

"Me too," said Derek.

Both of them collapsed to the deck in each other's arms.

"Wildstar!" yelled Rosstowski.

"Nova!" cried Aliscea as she ran up to them.

She saw their eyelids fluttering. Then, they both collapsed into some strange oblivion together since there was no longer enough blood in them to keep them conscious. They knew and saw no more.

* * *

**IV. VISIONS AND DREAMS**

**Aboard Space Battleship _Argo._******

**On Planet Rikasha**

**April 14, 2202 **

**1602 Hours: Terran Space-time**

* * *

Nova Wildstar was in a strange, strange place.

Somehow, she knew it was some years afterwards. She was a little older, and she had a baby boy, little Alex, nursing against her breast after she had heard the baby monitor and she and Derek had been called out of their outdoor hot spring bath at their house.

At the moment, they sat near their steaming home tub, made up to look like a natural spring hidden behind its own concealing grove of pine trees and bushes near their swimming pool. Nova sat on Derek's lap with her baby. It was a warm, starry night. Derek and Nova wore nothing but _Yutaka_, or summerweight kimonos. Nova lay in her husband's bare lap and against his chest, while Alex nursed right against his mother's unabashedly bared breast.

"Isn't he adorable?" asked Derek.

"He is," said Nova. "Good thing it's warm out," she said as she and Derek both rubbed their baby's bare little bottom. Nova giggled as his little foot brushed her stomach.

"Comfortable?" asked Derek.

Nova nodded. "It's nice out tonight. He loves to be with his mommy...hearing her heartbeat..."

Derek kissed his wife and asked "May I?" while pushing her kimono off her shoulders. Nova smiled and nodded shyly. A moment later, both his wife and son were naked in his arms...and, to this young father, both of them were simply gorgeous.

"Isn't he beautiful?" whispered Nova.

"Both of you are beautiful on a moonlit night," whispered Derek. "You look like an angel tonight, Nova."

Nova only blushed, giving her husband a soft kiss. She leaned her head against her husband's bare chest.

"Keep us safe tonight?" whispered Nova.

"I'll watch over you both like a wolfhound. Nothing will harm either of you tonight...nothing will harm the two people I love the most on this planet."

"Thanks, Derek..."

Nova's dream suddenly twisted and shifted in a different direction. She passed from being safe, warm and secure with her child and husband to shivering in the cold in a snowstorm.

She looked around, bewildered. The cold assaulted her horribly, since she was dressed (if one could call it that) in only a frozen burlap serape that she saw didn't even cover her all the way. She was kneeling in the snow, and the growing numbness and cold on her unprotected legs hurt.

Nova looked at the bundle in her arms and felt nauseated. It was her baby, Alex, bare, and slowly turning blue with cold. He was emaciated, and looked too weak to cry. Nova knew at once that her son had very little time left.

She then coughed...a loud, racking cough that was horribly painful. What she coughed up into the snow a moment later was bloody and sick-looking. "I'm dying, too," she murmured. "Don't know what'll get me first...exposure, or this pneumonia I seem to have."

"Derek?" she cried, standing up in the snow. She noticed that she was barefoot, and had apparently walked a long way. She could barely feel any pain, but the pathetic footprints she had left in the snow were bloody. "Derek, where ARE you? I'm hungry, sick and cold, and our baby is dying! Where _are_ you?"

She walked on, and then looked up at a tree. Her eyes went wide with shock. "..d...derek," she muttered.

Derek was hanging by his neck from a high tree branch...like the hanging they had almost received on Gun Frontier. He hung there, ashen and dead. His corpse had been horribly tortured, and he had apparently died in great pain. Nova looked at him, and then couldn't bear to look any more. In her arms, her baby convulsed one last time and lay still.

Nova fell to her knees. She gently laid down the body of her son, and stripped off the poor excuse for a garment...so she would freeze to death and be with Derek soon...

* * *

Nova woke up screaming.

"Hey," said a soothing voice that whispered in her ear. "Hey! Nova! This is Derek."

"Huhhh?" muttered Nova Wildstar.

She felt Derek hugging her. She felt strangely warm. Her eyes were closed. Behind her, she thought she could hear someone weeping softly.

"Derek…do I have clothes on?"

"Yes…a nightgown. Very simple, but…"

"Where am I?"

"Sickbay," said Doctor Sane as he turned around with tears running from under his glasses.

Nova felt Derek's hair. "Oh, your poor ear. Your ear…your…ear? It's _there_? Boy, am I confused."

"Aliscea grew me a new one," said Derek as he stood there in what Nova realized was his Star Force whites. "It's _you_ we were worried about. You were in some kind of coma even after we treated the shock…"

"Huh? Shock?"

"Pretty bad," sniffed Doctor Sane. The fact that he wasn't yelling at her worried Nova a great deal. "You flatlined on us three times, Nova. For the worst of it, you didn't have a heartbeat for a full minute. We would've lost you if it hadn't been for Aliscea."

Nova then noticed IQ-9 by her bedside. "IQ?"

"Luckily, humans are very durable. Even if you are much harder to fix than a robot. Luckily, Aliscea is ten thousand times more efficient than an ordinary human."

"Is she all right? Where is she?"

The door to the Sickbay room whizzed open a moment later. To Nova's utter surprise, Holly Venture _walked_ in.

"_Holly?_"

"Got these flowers for you, nerd," said Holly with tears in her eyes. "Hey, good thing you pulled through on us. Now you can be at our second wedding on Earth."

The door opened again. Three men came in. Nova only recognized one of them. One of them was Baron Anton Cha'rif, proud and tall again in a fresh uniform. Beside him walked a man in a grey and blue uniform somewhat like his with his features, a bald head, and a benign, thick mustache.

The third man was very tall, and blue-skinned. He had a bald head, and wore a sky-blue uniform in the same pattern as that of the others.

"Ah! You're better! Great!" said Baron Cha'rif. To his surprise, he handed Nova a small black box.

"Open it," Cha'rif said.

Nova did so, and she noticed an ornate silver medal of some kind with a blue ribbon trimmed in black.

"This is a decoration of the _R'jkharraz_ order," said Baron Cha'rif. "My Masters have heard of Yvona's evil and of your bravery back there on that Fortress. Accept this as a token of our esteem and the beginning of an apology from the Rikashan Empire to Earth. Now, some introductions are in order. This man beside me with the beard is my father, Duke Sta'gin Cha'rif."

"Where are we, sir?" Nova asked as she shook the older man's hand.

"In a dock underneath my palace on Rikasha in my Fief," said Sta'gin. "You are under guard, and you cannot be harmed here."

"We are aiding in the guard," said the other man. "I am Colonel Doxiera of the Free Technomugar. About a thousand of us have defected from the Fortress to this planet. We saw to it that no one molested you, and we saw to it that you got off the Fortress in safety."

"Where's the Fortress?" muttered Nova.

"I can't analyze that. Sorry," said IQ-9 as he left.

"Huh?" said Nova. "What's going on?"

"It warped away, damaged," said Doxiera. "Unfortunately, Ekogaru still lives, and the Fortress is still on its way to Earth, albeit slowly."

"What about Derek's plans?"

"Nova, they were still on me," said Derek with a smile. "Doctor Sane and your nurse friend Natalie Fisher took them from me and made sure they got to Sandor at Aliscea's request. He's analyzing them now. In a few days, we'll be meeting with the Gamilons. They'll be helping us."

The door opened again. "This is not to be a convention! This woman needs rest!" yelled Sane.

"You mean I can't visit?" said Aliscea impishly.

Nova smiled and hugged her friend. Aliscea was decently clothed again, albeit in a white linen dress and white wrap-around sandals.

"Why are you in white?" asked Nova.

"Mother said it's allowed, now," said Aliscea. "We have a battle to fight. Ekogaru is dying now. Besides, Paul and I were in the marketplace here in Sherikhan. Black is too hot to walk around in here on Rikasha."

"So what's happening next?" asked Nova.

"A lot," said Derek. "When you're better, we're going to the Capital."

"The Capital?" asked Nova.

"Yes. I need you two as witnesses at a meeting of the Council," said Duke Sta'gin Cha'rif. "At this meeting, we will be making some declarations."

"What do I do in the meantime?' asked Nova.

"Rest," said Derek. "Since you were in such proximity to Yvona when she was full of Ekogaru's power, there were some side effects. But, those scars on your face have been healed, and they put a false tooth in to replace the one you lost."

"Hmmmh?" said Nova.

"Sorry. I'm good at growing back skulls, spinal cords, and ears. Haven't worked up to teeth yet. Sorry," said Aliscea with a shrug. "Now, you get to sleep. And let me know if you have any bad dreams, okay?"

"Okay," said Nova, who didn't wish to discuss the horrible nightmare she had awakened from. "See you later, I guess."

Everyone except Derek left. "Derek, get back to work," mumbled Nova.

"Can't I stay with you a bit longer?"

"Okay," said Nova.

* * *

** END.**

* * *

**_The Story will be continued In the Tenth Part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT…._**

**_"A Last Breath before the Plunge."_******

* * *

**_THERE ARE NOW 27 DAYS TO THE ARRIVAL OF EKOGARU IN EARTH'S SOLAR SYSTEM_**


End file.
